Protesters in downtown Fort Myers want return of ‘Bike Night’

It’s “Bike Night” in Fort Myers is this weekend, but it’s being held outside the downtown historic district this year, which has made some bikers unhappy.

Bikers and other supporters have gathered in downtown Fort Myers Saturday to protest against the decision that moved the biker gathering.

“We support all the mom-and-pop shops because they’ve been very supportive to me helping me out, helping my biker family out,” Paula Campbell said.

The main reason bikers say they have gathered downtown is to support local businesses there, while also making it clear downtown Fort Myers is where they hope the event will return in the future.

Local business owners have also joined to help spread the message to return bike night downtown.

“I wanna keep the bike night tradition alive, so I got a permit to close the street,” said Chris Blauvelt at The Standard Restaurant. “We’re gonna have bad latitude. We’re gonna do all four bike nights.”

The River District Alliance said it moved the event outside the downtown area due to safety and cost concerns.

Bikers are complaining the Rockstar Harley-Davidson dealership in Fort Myers. Where the event is being held this year, isn’t allowing some of the traditional bike night vendors to participate.

The dealership said it had an application for vendors, and any and all vendors were welcome to apply.