Poker Run motorcycle event canceled

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

If this were a real hand of poker, the players would have gone bust.

Despite earlier pleas from the organizer of the Phil Peterson Key West Poker Run, the annual motorcycle event has been canceled for this September. Drew Peterson, son of the late Phil Peterson, who founded the event 45 years ago, sent an email to city officials and posted on Facebook that the motorcycle run from the mainland down to Key West scheduled for Sept. 16-17 was officially canceled.

“Sorry for all the confusion, we have not been able to get the support of the [Key West] local charities and volunteers this year,” Peterson wrote in an email to Poker Run participants, which was copied to Key West City officials. “We will start the process much earlier next year, so that the Poker Run can continue. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Thank you for all your support over the years.”

City commissioners had granted reluctant approval to Peterson in June to hold the event, which shuts down Duval Street and some surrounding roadways to provide parking for the estimated 10,000 bikers who descend on Key West, essentially taking over the downtown area and turning it into a multi-day street party. Many local business owners support the event because it brings thousands of visitors to town during a lull in the tourist season.

Commissioners granted approval to the Poker Run this year despite Peterson losing the support of the Key West Sunrise Rotary Club, which had provided volunteer support for the event over the past several years in return for a monetary donation. The reason for the commission approval was so Peterson would pay the estimated $20,000 cost of extra police, fire and department of public works employees assigned to the Poker Run.

Now, however, the city will have to pick up the tab because thousands of motorcyclists are still expected to come to Key West. Poker Run participants account for about 3,000 of the estimated 10,000 bikers who converge in Key West that weekend. Even if most of the previous Poker Run participants don’t come to Key West, a large biker population is expected to come anyway.

“I will work with staff to be ready for those who planned to be here and have reservations,” City Manager Jim Scholl told commissioners.

Mayor Craig Cates said that while Scholl and Police Chief Donie Lee may decide to close downtown streets to vehicles during that weekend if there are too many people to fit safely on the sidewalks, the streets will still not be used as parking lots for the motorcycles. And that, Cates said, will likely be a problem.

“Parking is a problem every day for us. So yes, it will be difficult for them to find a parking place,” he said, adding, “They [motorcyclists] will have to find parking just like everyone else.”

Peterson had reduced the scope of this year’s Poker Run after the Sunrise Rotary pulled out of the event, eliminating the street fair and motorcycle show. Because Rotary members had done much of the preparation in past years, including applying for city permits for the event, Peterson didn’t realize he needed to start the process months ahead of the event date. As a result, when he appeared before city commissioners in June for a hearing on the permit, commissioners were already skeptical he could pull all the pieces together in time.

“It is unfortunate that the organizer did not have the appropriate plans or volunteers in place, but this was apparent from the first presentation made before the commission last month,” Commissioner Sam Kaufman wrote in a July 20 email to City Manager Scholl.

Kaufman voted against the Poker Run permit because he was concerned about the increasing attendance of motorcycle gang members at the event. He urged Scholl to “have plans in place to discourage motorcycle gangs including rules not permitting displays of ‘colors’ and other gang insignia” if Peterson applies for a 2018 Poker Run permit.

Although motorcycle gang members were not involved in a vicious fight at Rumors Lounge during last year’s Poker Run – the attacker was a biker who was also a member of the Tampa Fire Department – Mayor Cates said the fight was the final straw for the Sunrise Rotary, which was already concerned that Peterson’s donation to the group was shrinking while the need for its volunteers was growing every year. And when city commissioners said they wanted Peterson to find another local non-profit group to agree to sponsor the event, Peterson couldn’t find one in time.

“When Rotary pulled out, the other organizations that could come in and take over were concerned,” Cates said. “To come in and do it in two or three months was more than any organization could do, in my opinion.”

Even Peterson’s primary sponsor, the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation in Hollywood, Fla, pulled out recently. The Foundation, which was a beneficiary of the Poker Run’s annual donation proceeds, had agreed to provide a $5 million liability insurance policy for this year’s event. But when it became apparent $5 million in coverage might not be enough, the Foundation rescinded its offer.

“Nobody wanted to be the one to say they were responsible,” Cates said.

Responses to the cancelation on Facebook were disappointed. David Croft posted a string of frowning smiley faces. And Jimmy Taylor said it was sad that an event “as great as this” was canceled.

“Start planning earlier next year?? After 44 years?? In time, the truth of what happened will surface. As a long-time rider and participate of this event, others and myself have observed, for a multitude of reasons, that the event has been dying a slow death for several years now,” he wrote. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Thank you for all of your support over the years !

We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Thank you for all of your support over the years !

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