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The Hollister City Council has declined to host the once-popular annual biker rally in 2025, citing the city’s inability to gather sufficient law enforcement staffing for the multi-day event. At the council’s Aug. 20 meeting, Councilmember Rolan Resendiz motioned to approve the rally but did not receive support. Councilmember Dolores Morales was absent.
Hollister Police Chief Carlos Reynoso reiterated concerns from previous years in a report to the council. He said law enforcement still lacks support from other jurisdictions to ensure safety.
“Having the rally or not is a City Council decision,” Reynoso said. “We always present our situation that we cannot find adequate public safety personnel here in California.”
In 2023, Reynoso told BenitoLink that though police do not disclose numbers from their security plan, city code would require over 200 officers for the rally, which was estimated to attract more than 10,000 people. He said in his time managing past rallies, the city has “never had close to three-digit numbers [of officers].”
“Whether you vote to have it or not, the department will do everything we can to try to make it as safe as possible,” Reynoso said, “but it is a major concern that we can’t get any law enforcement, sheriff’s department, probation department, to assist us in any reasonable amounts that would let us host the event.”
Mayor Mia Casey and Councilmembers Rick Perez and Tim Burns said they supported the rally but could not approve it given the public safety concerns.
Resendiz said it was up to the City Council to approve the rally and should be doing it every year on the Fourth of July weekend. He said the community wants the event, citing the 2022 advisory measures T and U, in which 63% of voters supported the biker rally and 57% supported the rally to be a week-long event, respectively.
“If they want the biker rally, it’s your job to ensure that you adopt the policy and that the staff implements that policy,” Resendiz said addressing his fellow council members. “If you cannot do the job that the people of Hollister elected you to do, then get out of office and let someone else do it.”
Casey said while voters did support the rally, they had not been presented with information about safety, costs or ramifications.
“I can’t in good conscience be reckless about it and say move ahead whether we have enough officers or not,” Casey said. “I think it could be a huge liability for the city.”
Asked about the liability to the city if someone were to get injured during the rally, City Attorney Mary Lerner said there would be “significant risks to the city.”
Reynoso, along with Perez and City Manager David Mirrione attended a meeting in Florida in April to speak to officials and analyze how Leesburg handles its BikeFest. Reynoso said that is the event most similar to Hollister’s biker rally. The last city-run biker rally was held in 2017. Local business owners sponsored and organized it in 2019 and 2021.
Reynoso said the “significant” reason the city of Leesburg can host its rally has to do with its law-enforcement staffing levels and support from 11 neighboring agencies. He said the city of 31,000 residents has 72 sworn officers and a total of 121 police staff.
BenitoLink confirmed through a public records request that Leesburg has 73 sworn officers and that up to 26 of its officers worked at BikeFest in addition to the 10-12 officers working normal patrol functions.
“Every sworn member of the Leesburg Police Department worked in some capacity over the three-day event, whether performing normal patrol functions, downtown event location security, or in city traffic enforcement,” a press release from the city of Leesburg said.
Additionally, the city had up to 26 officers from other jurisdictions working the event at one time, according to the statement, and got the support of 50 officers for the rally from neighboring agencies.
Reynoso told BenitoLink Hollister Police has 34 officers with another four in the academy.
He said the Leesburg community has a history of peaceful gatherings, does not have “any issues, per say, with outlaw motorcycle gangs in that area,” unlike California, and that Leesburg purposely does not hold its rally on a holiday. He said having an event on a holiday limits how much support neighboring law enforcement can provide because they have to deal with other events in their communities.
He added the attendees were “retirement age” compared to the Hollister biker rally.
When Burns suggested changing the date of Hollister rally, Reynoso said law enforcement staffing is an issue departments deal with year round.
“Until that changes throughout the state, I don’t think changing the date is really going to make a big difference,” Reynoso said.
Casey said what stood out regarding Leesburg versus Hollister is that the Florida city has more than twice the budget, almost twice the number of sworn officers and doesn’t host its rally during a holiday.
According to its website, Leesburg’s annual budget is about $219 million compared to Hollister’s $70 million in 2022-23.
The rally dates back to the 1930s when hundreds of motorcycle enthusiasts gathered in the area for camaraderie, but its “biker” mystique began after the so-called “invasion” of Hollister by World War II veterans riding around the U.S. on used military motorcycles as part of the Gypsy Tour Races which inspired the 1947 movie “The Wild One” with Marlon Brando. Since then, sanctioned and unsanctioned rallies have been held depending on the mood and finances of the city.
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