Wrapping Up

SEBRING - "I like it, don't get me wrong. It's something different.... This is like the '50s."

Lourdes "Lou" Gil of Deerfield Beach has been biking since she was 18, but the stout 53-year-old only went to three bike rallies before Sunday. She had some fond memories of those three, though, especially one in Key West.

"Everywhere you go, they had a different thing going," she said, describing how wild the women were and how the bikers were all with them. It wasn't sexual, she quickly added.

Many of the bikers there wouldn't use their stereotypically salty language to describe the Run to the Heartland this year. Words like "nice," "friendly," and "laid back" were the phrases more often used, but that calm that left Gil dreaming of Key West was just what several other bikers came for during the past weekend.

"I enjoy coming over here, it's not crowded like Daytona or Leesburg," said Danny "Free Bird" Holt of the Ft. Pierce-based Reflection Riders. "You get a lot of places where you can't even walk, there's so many people."

Riders closer to home, like Robert "Triker" Corey of Zolfo Springs, felt the same way. As he munched on a doughnut, he described how he had rode his custom-built 2004 Third-Wheel trike all over the eastern half of the country, hitting rallies as far as Wisconsin and Indiana. For the 68-year-old biker -- or rather, triker -- Run to the Heartland had a friendly setting.

"There's been no trouble all weekend. Everyone's been getting along," Corey said.

Local Businesses Cash In, Tents Don't

As the Run to the Heartland wound down Sunday, organizer Lora Todd of the Heartland Riders Association said she expected a better revenue for the city from this event, despite the lower turnout. She said last year Run to the Heartland generated $2 million in business for the city.

Around the Circle, the shop owners said they had a surge of business, though it was too soon to know exactly how much was made and how it compared to last year for Theresa Gutekunst of the The Sammich Place.

"It's been the same I think," she said as she flipped someone's lunch off a sandwich press, while trying to guess how the sales this weekend compared to last year's run. The Sammich Place normally does not open on weekends.

"Of course, we were better prepared this year."

Daniel Serecka, who operates a video store on the Circle, said his sales went up "100-fold." But the boost, he said, came mostly from selling cigarettes, chewing tobacco and drinks, rather than the DVDs and video games.

"That's the main seller, because people are hot out here, and people smoke," Serecka said.

The merchants under the tents had a different outlook. Larry Depaulo of CNS Concessions in Pinellas Park, who ran one tent making barbecue chicken just off Circle Park Drive, expected his sales to be down this year from the last "because we had a bad Friday."

Christy Dellacamera, who was serving snow cones near the stage, said some of the tents were already gone early Sunday, and she couldn't get an ice cream stand open Friday because of the rain.

"By the time we get done with everything, we'll probably owe money," the Fort Myers merchant said. "I really think it's the economy."

Todd said the turnout was down but did not have an estimate as to how many showed up Saturday and Sunday. The Sebring Police Department did not have a crowd estimate available.