Atlantic Beach Bike Fest wrapped up this weekend.
And now that both of the bike weeks are over, the Harley-Davidson spring rally and the Atlantic Beach bike fest, it's time to analyze some of the numbers.
Perhaps the most-important number is four, that's the total number of bikers who died on the Grand Strand.
Three died during Harley week and one during Bike Fest.
Officials with Horry County's Emergency Operations Center said they were a little busier this year compared to last year during the Atlantic Beach Bike Fest.
Emergency Management Director, Randy Webster said it was clear to the people at the EOC that based on the number of calls for service that there were more people in the area for the Bike Fest.
Webster also said since Bike Fest activities have spread beyond Atlantic Beach, the focus of the EOC is no longer just on the north end of the county.
"I think it makes it for us a little bit easier because it spreads out, but it does make it tougher on law enforcement and those for manpower issues as well, but we're used to that with the Harley rally so it spreads out so I think it's probably going to be the natural progression of the rally as it continues to grow as it looks like it may do." said Webster.
Brad Dean, president of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce said from what he saw, most of the Bike Fest activity was centered around a couple of key areas.
Of course in Atlantic beach, where the Bike Fest originated, Colonial Mall, the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, and even on Ocean Boulevard, where even though there were no structured activities, there were certainly a lot of people taking advantage of the area's main attraction, the ocean.
Dean said hundreds of thousands of people don't always translate into thousands of dollars for the local business community.
"Most businesses are reporting the business was flat or maybe even down a little bit although we did see a lot of day trippers on Saturday and that certainly brought more people to the beach on the peak day of the Bike Fest." said Dean.
Dean also said some businesses benefit more than others during the Memorial Day weekend depending on their location, because most people are spending money in specific areas.
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