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News › Grayslake Mayor: Canceling Motorcycle Show was 'Difficult'
Four days after he and other village leaders canceled a local motorcycle show, Grayslake Mayor Tim Perry today issued a statement about the factors that led to the much-criticized move.
"We empathize with members of the Lake County Fairgrounds, the personnel of the Austin's Saloon, all the event organizers, the many vendors and all those who planned on attending the event," Perry said in a two-page release faxed to the Daily Herald this morning. "This was a difficult decision to make."
The Ironhorse Roundup Bike Show was expected to attract up to 40,000 visitors to the fairgrounds in Grayslake on Sunday. Austin's, a Libertyville bar and restaurant, was the chief sponsor of the annual event. The show had been held at the bar in previous years.
The cancellation of the event - set to include musical performances, vendors from across the nation and a variety of activities - shocked Austin's owner Mark Khayat. He has since estimated the cancellation cost his business more than $100,000.
Grayslake village officials and police ordered the event canceled after 4 p.m. Friday, based on information from the Illinois State Police's Statewide Terrorism and Intelligence Center. According to reports, members of a motorcycle club identified as an international criminal organization planned to be at the show.
Grayslake officials didn't publicly divulge the reason for the cancellation at the time, however.
Perry's release this morning addresses that lack of information. He said village leaders needed to confer with other agencies before releasing specific details of the information they received.
In his statement, Perry called the threat "very credible" and insisted he and other village officials were primarily concerned with public safety.
"In no way does our decision to cancel this event reflect Grayslake's view of the biker community," Perry said in the release.
Source: The Daily Herald
Posted by editor on Thursday, May 08, 2008 (02:34:07) (605 reads)
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