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I must admit I was disappointed last week when I got the news that the Atlanticade Motorcycle Festival was moving from Moncton to St. Andrews next year.

Disappointed because I thought the motorcycle festival had potential to grow, even though a lot of people in Moncton didn't really understand it. I'm sure there are people who will be happy to be rid of the roar of big tailpipes through the streets and others who will miss the cool custom bikes that came with the festival over its short three-year run.

For those who missed it, Atlanticade was a four-day festival celebrating all things motorcycle. Riders came from all over the country to participate in guided tours of our scenic back country roads, a trade show, a custom chopper show, meals, entertainment and an outdoor street party. It was designed as a way for bikers to gather together, share some good times, meet up with old friends and have fun.

The festival was geared toward people who live the biker lifestyle but also designed to help break down the untrue stereotype that "bikers" are violent criminals. In fact, most of the people who came to the festival were older couples who enjoy travelling.

The festival also brought together the veterans, police officers, firefighters and others who have their own riding groups. Other than the noise, the festival participants posed no major trouble for the local police or populace over its three year run.

The organizers of Atlanticade say their festival resulted in about $3 million in spin-off benefits to the city and the surrounding area. That's money coming out of the pockets of people coming here to visit, spent mainly on hotel rooms, gas, meals and maybe some shopping.

The main public events during the festival were the outdoor street party and the Sunday afternoon parade, which ended with a tribute to veterans at the Moncton Legion.

The festival also brought some media coverage from Heather Ireland, the host of Biker TV, who participated in the events while her cameraman recorded enough footage and interviews to fill a couple of half-hour TV shows. The Canadian Motorcycle Mojo magazine also wrote articles about Atlanticade, and published a series of articles written by Irishman Paddy Tyson, who stopped into Moncton during his round-the-world motorcycle trip.

The Times & Transcript also jumped into the act, with yours truly hopping onto a motorcycle and following the event, writing about it in a specialty column aptly titled Easy Writer.

In my travels aboard a KTM 690 in 2008 and a Harley-Davidson XR1200 in 2009, I got to meet and ride with some pretty interesting people who travelled to Moncton for the festival. I also got to see on several occasions how frustrating the whole process was for organizers.

As a journalist who has covered many special events over the years, I've always had certain level of admiration for people who are so passionate about their own sport, recreation or hobby that they want the rest of the world to join in and share it with them. But most of these people are so involved with what they are doing that they forget that those outside their bubble don't really "get it." It takes a real promoter to draw outsiders into the bubble and get them interested enough to pay money to get in the door.

Moncton is home to many successful events organized by volunteer groups, like the Atlantic Nationals Auto Extravaganza, the World Wine and Food Expo and the Frye Festival. There are also successful events organized by local businessmen like the Speed Sport auto show. The annual woodworking show, held recently at the Coliseum, is part of a series across the country put together by a professional promotions company from Ontario, with help by local organizations. But it can take several years for annual events like this to generate a loyal following of people who enjoy it enough to keep coming back.

Outdoor events that depend on good weather have the odds stacked against them from the start. During the 2008 Atlanticade festival, organizers wanted to put a big tent in the parking lot at Highfield Square for the trade show and display of custom choppers, but plans changed under heavy rain and winds, and everything was moved to the Coliseum. As it turned out, the Agrena was a much better venue. For 2009, Atlanticade moved its headquarters from downtown to the 4-Ice Centre, which had a nice big parking lot, its own restaurant and lots of space for the trade show, bike displays and live entertainment.

Atlanticade chairman Dale Hicks said last week that moving the festival to St. Andrews was based on "many factors." But last year he was angered by the fact that the Bon Jovi concert at Magnetic Hill was scheduled for the same weekend, which put the crunch on the number of hotel rooms available around the city. As it turned out, there were still rooms available that weekend. He was also angered that Atlanticade was approached by concert promoters too late to rearrange the schedule and get people attending the motorcycle festival to the Bon Jovi show.

As it turned out, the outdoor concert at Magnetic Hill drew a crowd of about 30,000. The Main Street party for Atlanticade, held the same night, drew several thousand on its own. Was the crowd split by the two events? Possibly.

Even though the motorcycle festival is moving to St. Andrews, the fact remains that Metro Moncton and the surrounding region still has lots of scenic back roads to ride and places to see. One side goal of Atlanticade was to get travellers into the city and show them a good time so they would go home and tell their friends all about it. Ian Fowler, Moncton's general manager of Tourism, Parks Recreation and Culture, says the city would be open to another motorcycle festival but he qualifies that by saying it would have to be something unique because Moncton wants to have signature events that are different from those being held in other parts of the Maritimes.

And Moncton is going to be a busy place next summer. Next year's Atlantic Nationals will bring thousands of people and custom cars into the city on the weekend of July 8-11. And from July 19 to 25, Moncton will become sports central as we host athletes, media and fans from 170 countries for the IAAF World Junior Championships. It is expected to be the biggest sporting event ever held in Atlantic Canada. And we're still waiting for word on concerts at Magnetic Hill that could draw many tens of thousands more.

* Alan Cochrane is an editor-at-large with the Times & Transcript. His column appears each Tuesday. He can be reached by e-mail at cochrana@timestranscript.com