Newton Main Street takes over Thunder Nites

Organizers of the longtime Newton motorcycle rallies have passed down the torch to Main Street, whose volunteers are taking over the events this summer and will be bringing them back to the downtown area where they were initially held almost 12 years ago.

Newton Main Street on April 7 announced Thunder Nites is coming back to the town square with live music, food trucks, vendors and ice cold beverages. The local bike nights will be held 6 to 10 p.m. on June 10, July 8 and Aug. 12, with performances by The Mondeau Dukes, Sirius Jones and Hampton, respectively.

Thunder Nites representatives met with Main Street on April 11 to give a $16,000 donation to the organization, which plans on continuing the community event that went on a hiatus the past two years. Bob O’Brien, founder of Thunder Nites, said it is a no-brainer to give the event over to Main Street.

“Actually, Thunder Nites was started about the same time we were becoming a Main Street community. I’ve sat on the Main Street board since the inception of Main Street and started Thunder Nites as another deal to promote downtown and the community,” O’Brien said. “Main Street has got the same philosophy.”

Cassie Archibald, treasurer of Thunder Nites, always saw the event as a way for people with common interests to get together. It was also a conduit for showing off the town square when it was held downtown or the town in general when it was held in the DMACC Newton Campus parking lot.

“It was good, clean fun,” she said. “You could hang out with your friends or (people) with common interests, and we could off our community.”

Norman Maple, vice-president of Thunder Nites, was initially brought on to set up the event. As a biker himself, Maple saw the attraction of hosting town bike nights. The food trucks, the music, the bikes. Maple just enjoyed being a part of the atmosphere, an atmosphere Main Street wants to maintain.

Laurie Moffitt, chairperson of Newton Main Street’s promotions/organization committee, said taking over Thunder Nites also allows the downtown organization to turn the event into a fundraiser, ensuring there will be more bike nights and opportunities for economic vitality.

Newton Legion Riders are assisting with the Main Street-led Thunder Nites, too, by helping with the setup and the beer garden. Newton Main Street Executive Director Erin Yeager said each bike night will be set up on North Second Avenue from First Street to Third Street, wrapping up to West Second Street North.

Which means through traffic along First Avenue and First Street North will not be impeded by Thunder Nites. However, Yeager said the ultimate goal is to get bike nights to grow even larger and extend it all the way to Legacy Plaza. For now, Main Street is focused on giving Thunder Nites a memorable return.

So far the community interest seems high. When Thunder Nites made its announcement on Facebook that Main Street would be presenting the event this year, the post received close to 200 shares. Moffitt was not expecting that kind of response from the community. She takes it as a good sign.

“I was overwhelmed by it in a good way,” she said. “But now I guess that makes it even more exciting for the city of Newton to be able to have an event like this that does bring so many people from different cities and states and gives us an opportunity to really show off our downtown.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext 6560 or at cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com