Ramona Motorcycle Rally expands to a three-day event

For the first time, the Ramona Motorcycle Rally will offer three days of entertainment, food and shopping.

The Oct. 14-16 event, which started in 2016, kicks off on a Friday night for the first time, said Chair Paul Zawilenski. Gates will open at 4 p.m. and the first band will start performing at 5 p.m., he said. Food and merchandise vendors will be available throughout the evening.

The Ramona Chamber of Commerce-sponsored rally will be held at the Ramona Outdoor Community Center.

Festivities will start at 10 a.m. on Saturday, including a beer truck for an Oktoberfest celebration. The local band Farm Truck will perform at 2 p.m. followed by a performance of country musician Gethen Jenkins at 4 p.m.

“We’re hoping people will come out to dance Friday night and Saturday afternoon,” said Zawilenski, chamber president and a motorcycle rider of more than 20 years who owns a variety of seven motorcycles. “We’ll also have vintage motorcycle movies on a screen in the pavilion after the bands on Friday and Saturday nights.”

After gates open at 10 a.m. Sunday, rally visitors can view all types of motorcycles, from vintage motorcycles and choppers, to Harley-Davidsons, three-wheel motorcycles and scooters in the Sixth annual Custom Motorcycle Show. Winners of the show will be announced at 2 p.m. Tickets for an opportunity drawing that follows at 3 p.m. will be sold throughout the weekend.

Zawilenski proposed the Chamber’s first motorcycle show as a way to attract motorcyclists passing through town on their way to backcountry destinations like Julian and Borrego Springs to stop in town, shop and dine in Ramona.

The first year the event was held as the Ramona Custom Motorcycle Show on a Sunday morning as part of the Ramona Country Fair.

“Then the next year we did it again and it grew,” Zawilenski said. “I always had a vision of a larger, standalone motorcycle event. The third and fourth years we moved it to Dos Picos Park and it became a daylong event from morning to evening. We expanded it to include vendors and food, had some auctions and introduced bands. Then COVID hit.”

In 2020, the Ramona Motorcycle Rally was canceled because of the pandemic but it came back stronger in 2021 at the Ramona Outdoor Community Center, Zawilenski said. Pre-pandemic, the one-day event drew about 750 people, but last year the event attracted 1,000 people per day for two days, he said.

A variety of vendors will sell their wares at the Ramona Motorcycle Rally.

(John Hancock Photography)

The Ramona Outdoor Community Center is the perfect place to showcase vendors and bands, Zawilenski said.

“This year we want to focus on the quality of the event and I think we will be expanding it more than last year,” he said. “This is not just an event for outside motorcycle people to be coming in. I want to see people in the community come in.”

Aubrey Leigh presented trophies to Custom Motorcycle Show winners at the 2018 Ramona Motorcycle Rally.

(Courtesy Ramona Chamber of Commerce)

Chuck Abney, a Lakeside resident who has been a volunteer judge of the Custom Motorcycle Show for five years, remembers when the event was held for a few hours at the Ramona Country Fair.

“A handful of bikes showed up,” Abney said. “Things progressed and got better. It moved to Dos Picos Park for a couple of years. There was a bigger presence with sponsor Indian Motorcycle of San Diego and there were more vendors, bands, auctions and raffles and a motorcycle show.

“That was fun for a couple of years and then they had a great idea to move it back to the fairgrounds and have it as its own standalone event,” he said. “It had a ton of people show up for the bike show, with all brands and styles of bikes. It’s been a great turnout the past couple of years.”

Having a community-oriented rally that isn’t set up at a motorcycle dealership offers a refreshing and fun experience for visitors, Abney said.

Awards are presented to motorcyclists for their outstanding bikes in the Custom Motorcycle Show.

(Courtesy Ramona Chamber of Commerce)

During the motorcycle judging, Abney said he will look for motorcycles that have a clean appearance and add-ons that increase a motorcycle’s functionality and performance. He’ll draw on his experience visiting other motorcycle shows and keeping up with trends in motorcycle magazines, he said.

“I got my motorcycle license in 1982 and I have never been without at least two motorcycles since then,” Abney said. “I’ve had as many as seven at one time. I enjoy the sport, I’m an avid lover of motorcycle riding. It’s a wonderful activity to take part in.”

The entry fee to the rally is $15 per day, but a three-day pass is available for $20. There’s an additional charge of $25 to enter a motorcycle in the motorcycle show.

Proceeds will go toward the Chamber’s education and scholarship programs that benefit high school seniors, Zawilenski said.

High school seniors receive scholarships from the Ramona Chamber of Commerce with proceeds from the Ramona Motorcycle Rally.

(Courtesy Ramona Chamber of Commerce)

“We do this to highlight the town, to bring people here, to show them what a great town Ramona is, and the money goes back to the scholarship funds,” he said.

For more information about the event, including hours, band performance times and motorcycle show rules, visit the website RamonaMotorcycleRally.com.