Open Road Tour: Barrie, Ontario

The BAD

I'm not one for line-ups, but it took me only a half hour to enter the grounds. However, those who bought tickets early had to lineup first at the refund booth, then again through the security/metal detector line (a first for a mc event in Canada - at least for me), and finally through the ticket

Checking out one of the few exhibits Canada actually got.

gate. Security staff was everywhere, although they were quite pleasant. Other staff were still being briefed on the fly as I entered, so there was some confusion (like which line to stand in, which parking lot to go to if you were in a four-wheeler, etc.). Quite a few people commented that the food was particularly bad, and in some cases inedible and not cheap either. The music thankfully started early afternoon as the temperature dropped rapidly towards the evening. Heavy dew settled on the grounds and if you hadn't brought something to sit on, you either braved the cold damp grass or spent hours standing. Some were clever enough to grab chairs from the beer tents. In any case, this part of the world gets cold this time of year and I think HD would have done much better booking the event a month or two earlier.

The UGLY

Tickets were stamped with an 11am opening time, the gates actually opened at 1pm. Those who do not spend much time on the internet learned of this when they arrived two or more hours early and had to kill time. At least 25% of the exhibits (like The Machine) didn't make it to Canada. Neither did the stunt riders. The bike and custom car show was pathetically small (I guess I can blame that on the locals) - we get more vehicles on a typical cruise night. I suspect there were plenty of nice bikes in the parking lot, but it was located 1/2 a km away from the grounds. The special HOG tickets were meaningless as all they got you was entry to another beer tent. Didn't get any beer however because my daughter was a month shy of the age of majority and wasn't permitted in. The band Journey irked quite a few in the crowd by announcing what a great country Canada is and then promptly started playing the American anthem.

The BOTTOM LINE

Even though after driving 300 miles to attend this event, learning that significant portions of the exhibits and entertainment were chopped, the line-ups, the poor food, and the frigid temps in the evening, I was still glad that I had gone. Canada is a big country with a small population, so it was great that Harley-Davidson decided that we be one of the stops on the Open Road Tour. But I'm still disappointed with what we missed.