Welcome to Hog Heaven! This series will bring you all the news coming from Brew City in preparation for this summer’s 105th Birthday Anniversary party for Harley-Davidson. Concurrent with Harley’s birthday will also be the grand opening of the Harley-Davidson Museum, and the grand opening of The Iron Horse Hotel, an upscale hotel in downtown Milwaukee, geared (pun intended) toward bikers.
This year, Harley-Davidson is celebrating its 105th birthday, and they’ve planned a celebration that people will be talking about for the next 105 years. If you thought their 100th Birthday Celebration was big news, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Every year for their annual celebration, Harley-Davidson has what’s called a ceremonial ride from the factory outside Milwaukee, down blockaded roads and highways, then through parts of the city. For 2003's ceremonial ride, Harley-Davidson cut the number of riders off at ten thousand. From what I’ve been seeing and hearing so far, this year is expected to be bigger yet. The festivities will be held at the Lake Michigan waterfront park. In 2003, the park had 150,000 ticket-holders, with another 50,000 spillover. This year is expected to be bigger yet again.
Next in the Hog Heaven series will be a broad overview of the doings. I’ll be adding more details with each column, describing what’s happening, who’s appearing, and all the hows, whens, and whys of all the celebration. Here you will find items and articles several times weekly, so be sure to tune in regularly to catch the latest news. Over the next five months days you’ll find out all the latest developments and news as things happen.
I’m located just a few minutes away from all the important places including the under-construction Museum, the lakefront where the party will be held, the Iron Horse Hotel, and the Harley-Davidson factory. I’ll be in frequent contact with all these facilities and you’ll get it straight from the Hog’s mouth, so listen up!
You’ll also be caught up with information on past years’ festivities to help get you prepared. If you’re thinking about attending, hotel rooms are already tight, so don’t dally. Make your reservations now.
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