Bob Steele, 77, said until he became one three years ago, he thought motorcycle bikers were leathered-up, tattooed and looking for a party.

“I’ve only been riding for three years, but I’ve found that if you see a line of people riding motorcycles together, chances are they’re riding to support a charity,” he said.

Steele is with Florida Nature Coast Bike Fest, the group that hopes to move its annual Bike Fest event to Whispering Pines Park in Inverness.

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Previously, they’ve had their events in Brooksville but have outgrown the downtown Brooksville area.

“It started in 2017 in a field in Brooksville with monthly rallies,” Steele said. “The past two years it was an annual event, but we maxed out Brooksville. We had to turn vendors away – no room for them.”

At a recent Inverness City Council meeting, Florida Nature Coast Bike Fest officers and organizers made their request to council members to move their annual event from Brooksville to Whispering Pines Park.

Council members will vote on the request at the Tuesday, July 18 meeting.

“Whispering Pines (Park) would be ideal for this,” Steele said. “It’s 292 acres, with room for a lot of growth, and we don’t have to shut down any streets as we did in Brooksville.

“Plus, we expect a lot more vendors and bands coming in. We hope to make it a yearly event, just like Daytona or Sturgis.”

He said their first event a few years ago drew 14,000 people over three days and they were named “Best of (Hernando) County” for festivals.

Justin Krumholtz, also part of Florida Nature Coast Bike Fest, said one of the good things about having the event at Whispering Pines Park is its location. It’s out of the way, yet within a radius of only a few miles there are “dozens of restaurants and bars that will prosper tremendously by the influx of people,” he said.

Steel said the bottom line is that they’re a nonprofit organization that wants to do a great event that will raise money to support worthy charities and help local businesses.

Some of the many charities they have supported in the past include: Gary Sinise Foundation, Operation Heart F.E.L.T (Feeding Empty Little Tummies), Florida Bikers Helping Florida Bikers, Veterans For A Cause, A.B.A.T.E., Moose Riders, K9 Partners for Patriots. They hope to include Citrus County charities.

If approved, the next Florida Nature Coast Bike Fest will be March 15-17, 2024.

Inverness City Council meets at 5:30 p.m. at the Inverness Government Center, 212 W. Main St., Inverness. Meetings are held in the Council Chambers on the first floor.

The public is welcome to attend.

Nancy Kennedy can be reached at 352-564-2927 or by email at nkennedy@chronicleonline.com.

Inverness City Council members did not think highly at the July 11 regular meeting about the idea of building structures at Liberty Park that will protect playground equipment plus make it more comfortable for children. Even if council members favored the proposal, the city would face a familiar problem.

“This has been the problem of all projects, trying to find vendors that are willing to go in and provide the desired effect that we’re looking for,” said City Manager Eric Williams. “We have gone to every playground manufacturer that we could (and) we’re back at the original manufacturer who installed playground.”

Williams added that the park was completely custom designed by the city’s design team. However, the way it was installed, footers were not done to support additional structural items being added. Because of that, beams would be needed in order to support a canopy over the playground equipment. An artistic rendering was then presented to the council.

“So, if you’ll notice from this rendering, these are going to have to be freestanding,” Williams said. However, he added, the cost is not going to be inexpensive. “Just to do the shade structure is a little over $200,000.”

The proposal called for an additional $100,000, to replace the pine bark mulch under the swings, which has constantly generated complaints.

“Why we chose to do it there, I have no idea. My suspicion is that the thing was quickly running out of the budget,” he said. “The other $100,000 … would add … rubberized material to that area as well.”

Council members first deliberated over the cost to replace the pine bark mulch and whether to hold off on that, but as discussion continued, one of the questions raised was why the playground was placed where it currently is, and a number of council members either wished or suggested the playground equipment be moved to another part of the park.

The fact that work is going to be taking place at Whispering Pines Park was also raised, as well as how long the protective coverings would last if the proposal were to be approved before needing replacement.

“We’ve just spent so much on Whispering Pines, it seems just a natural thing to go there with their kids, at least I do,” said Councilwoman Crystal Lizanich. She prefers that park because it is naturally shaded and has more open space, which allows for her daughter to run around.

Vice President Jacquie Hepfer believed what the city was going to get with Liberty Park did not match her expectations.

“What we ended up with wasn’t what I thought we were going to get,” she said. To her it reminded her of parks from the Victorian age, where a person or family put down a blanket on a Sunday, watched the lake and then left. “Instead, in the middle of it we’ve got a playground, which isn’t used that greatly unless we have an event down there.” She added that she wouldn’t be upset if the playground were gone altogether or moved elsewhere within the park.

Because no vote was needed as the matter was part of the city manager’s report, the consensus was to table the proposal at this time as well as look at relocating the playground to another part of the park.

Officers and organizers of Florida Nature Coast Bike Fest faced a series of concerns and challenges to their request made at the July 11 Inverness City Council regular agenda to move their annual bike fest from Brooksville to Inverness.

The organization feels it has outgrown Brooksville for a variety of reasons and wishes to relocate it at Whispering Pines Park for three days, March 15-17, 2024.

Representing the Bike Fest organization was its president, Brian Holt, who was accompanied by its founder and currently its secretary, Mike DeFelice, as well as several board members.

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In his opening statement, Holt attempted to describe in brief the history of the event, as well as the multiple charities the event has supported through the years, but was cut short by Inverness City Manager Eric Williams.

“As much as the charities that get supported are important, at this moment it’s important what the event will physically actually look like, and the activities that will be centered in and around it,” said Williams. He also included wanting City Council members to know how long the event would last and other aspects that would be involved.

In response, Holt brought up that in addition to motorcyclists themselves, a number of related businesses participate, such as the operators of big rigs, motorcycle and automotive businesses, as well as top-of-the-line vendors. There also would be musical entertainment, from country music to popular music. Other events and activities for children make the bike fest family-oriented.

There would not be activities or vendors that would be in questionable taste, such as cole slaw wrestling or wet T-shirt contests. Holt said it’s an event that brings in many people who are educated and well-to-do, who own motorcycles that cost as much as six figures.

A concern raised by Councilman Cabot McBride was attendance. In response, because of heavy rain, attendance at last year’s event was low, down by an estimated 60 percent, between 7,000 to 10,000 people. If approved, the bike fest at Whispering Pines would be expected to draw 10,000 to 15,000 people, and perhaps even 20,000. Hold made it a point that not all 20,000 people would descend upon Inverness on one day, that the count would be the total attained through the three days.

McBride also wanted to know how many of those would be motorcyclists, to which he was told about 70 percent of 10,000. However, Holt added that many of those would be bikers who would go home the same day as they had attended. This led to a follow-up question from McBride as to lodgings. The response was that many would stay in hotels/motels, bed and breakfasts, Airbnbs, RV resorts, but there wouldn’t be anyone camping at Whispering Pines.

Another of his concerns was demographics. According to Holt, the core demographic are people ages 40 to 60, with an average income of $70,000. These are people who are going to pour money into Inverness businesses, such as hotels/motels, restaurants and others, he said.

Two concerns voiced by Councilman Gene Davis centered around alcohol and security. He said he spoke to someone in law enforcement in Leesburg about a similar bike fest held there and was told it had been an unmitigated nightmare. He challenged Holt on that.

“So, if we were to touch base with Brooksville, would it be a good rapport with the sheriff’s department?” Davis asked.

“If you talk to them, it would be extremely good,” Holt said. As for the difficulties Leesburg encountered, this is part of what makes Whispering Pines ideal, because there would be only one way in and one way out, whereas in Leesburg, people were coming in and out at various points.

As regarded alcohol sales and consumption, it isn’t permitted in the park, said Davis, but City Manager Williams said it could be allowed by a resolution from the council.

An overriding concern was whether this would actually be a family-oriented event. This prompted DeFelice to respond.

“I’ve got my two 4-year-old twins, my wife and my daughters, come to these events. I’m very comfortable with that,” DeFelice said. So, too, does his 80-year-old mother attend. “The events that we do are meant to be family-friendly … what we are doing is creating an environment where people can come enjoy a lot of different things that are available to them.”

After concerns and questions raised concluded, it was agreed that a vote to either approve or turn down will be held at the next regular meeting scheduled for Monday, July 18.

In a later interview, Holt emphasized the importance of the event, as well as related events held by similar organizations nationwide, which is the dedication to improving peoples’ lives.

“There is no other group that raises more money for charity like bike people do around the country,” he said. It was a point he had attempted to raise at the start of the organization’s presentation on July 11, which he was cut off from doing.

The Cove Resort and Pub in Inverness and the organizers of the “Crackerstock for Kelly” Florida folk music event are gearing up for a “real Florida” fun time Sunday, Aug. 6.

A few of the details have changed, but not the purpose: to raise funds to benefit Kelly Green, the Crystal River woman with multiple debilitating illnesses who needs a safe home instead of the black mold-infested home she lives in with her 80-year-old mother.

Prior to her illnesses, Kelly Green regularly wrote, played and performed folk music. She hopes to be strong enough to come to the Crackerstock event and even hopes to play with her folk music friends.

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The Crackerstock event, now from 2 to 7 p.m. will be on the patio at The Cove.

“We will have our full menu available, plus the use of our bathrooms, and in case of rain, we can move everything inside the restaurant,” said Kemper Willcut, co-owner of The Cove Resort and Pub with his wife, Lou Ann Jacobs.

The Cove Resort and Pub is at 1242 S. Cove Point in Inverness, off State Road 44 East, 2.5 miles west from the intersection of State Road 44 and U.S. 41. Look for the Dollar General store at 44 and South Cove Point and follow the road lined with American flags that leads to The Cove.

Phone: 352-344-5894.

Lots of free parking available.

Admission is free.

Event organizer, Goody Haines, said there will be lots of raffles in between musical sets for “some really good stuff,” including gift baskets, a quilt, carved wood pieces, “some big-ticket items,” and one of Kelly Green’s guitars, a red Ibanez.

Florida Humanities describes Florida folk music as “elusive and eclectic,” from “blues to cowboy crooning, from backwoods banjo playing, gospel choir, finger-style guitarists and sacred steel players to piano mavens playing Joplin, and bluegrass jams.”

The musical lineup for Sunday’s Crackerstock for Kelly:

2-2:30 p.m. Lisa Thomas with Dora Ann. Lisa is the widow of Frank Thomas who was a Florida Folk Heritage Award recipient and the writer of such notable songs as “The Cracker Cowman.” Lisa has continued bringing Frank’s music to the Florida musical community.

2:40-3:40 p.m. Wry Whiskey Band. Wry Whiskey Band has been playing bluegrass music for more than 20 years at every major venue in Florida and Georgia. Ed Wybranowski is the banjo man and daughter Christy keeps everybody in line with the standup bass. Harry Trott’s guitar work blends the music together while good friends Ann Osborne and John Skolberg fill out their musical picture.

4-4:30 p.m. Back in Tyme. MaryLee and Frank Sweet have spent decades presenting “old-tyme” songs and history to festivals all over. Their storytelling and songs weave a wonderful tapestry of imagery that will take you Back In Tyme!

5:10-5:40 p.m. VGO. Here is a gentleman who can play any style of music and keep you mesmerized with his talent and musical skills. VGO is world traveled and he spent a number of years as a member of the 97th Regimental String Band.

6-7 p.m. Hapi McKenzie and the Crabgrass Cowboys. Hapi McKenzie and Patty Pfister show the way Country, Rockabilly, Americana, Bluegrass ought to be played! Their music is a down-home mixture of folk, Florida, swingish cowboy music a la Hank Williams or Asleep at the Wheel, and the cosmic country of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. Like Bob Will’s music, many of the tunes have a hillbilly swing feel straight out of the thirties.

7 p.m. Silent Auction Winners announced.

On her Facebook page, Kelly Green, who turns 49 on Aug. 13, said her birthday wish is for people to support this event.

“If you are not able to come, we ask that you please show your support for our cause online,” she wrote. “Please make a donation if your heart and finances allow and/or share the GoFundMe link https://tinyurl.com/ 7x7faz35 on your social media accounts. Please tell your friends about this and ask them to share. We humbly ask for help.”

Green has been bedridden, being kept alive on a feeding tube and IV fluids, suffering from numerous incurable conditions.

She added, “(We) are in the process of using the GoFundMe donations to secure temporary housing for (me and my elderly mom). God is so good and by your love and support we will do this! Thank you, to everyone for your support.”

Three years ago, Inverness was lucky if it could attract a dozen vendors to its Market at the Depot, and not many shoppers would spend money with them. Fast forward, and the situation has changed drastically. Now, more than 75 vendors crowd inside the large pavilion, with even more setting up outside when they reach overflow capacity on the first and third Saturday of every month. The market operates from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sometimes, nearly 100 vendors come to the North Apopka Avenue facility, offering a wide variety of goods, including fruits, vegetables, homemade soaps, jewelry, candles, baskets, wood bowls, fresh fish, and Polish meats and sausages. The market attracts a couple thousand customers.

Lisa Riker, the owner of Goddess Wires, considers the market her home market. As customers look on, she creates handmade jewelry, often incorporating gothic themes. She wraps carved stones with copper wire or crafts individualized pieces on a jeweler’s anvil, tapping them with a small hammer. Riker strives to infuse a part of herself into every item she makes. Prices for her creations range from $5 to $30, as she wants everyone to be able to afford homemade pieces of jewelry.

Riker, who is 54 years old and works as a postal carrier, and her husband Dallas, also participate in other markets but enjoy coming to Inverness due to its proximity to their home in Homosassa. Being creative serves as an emotional release for Riker and allows her to connect with people, interact with fellow vendors, and earn a little extra money. She jokes about not letting the bottom financial line determine her staying in business, sometimes earning as little as 3 cents per hour after considering her expenses. However, the joy of watching customers find what they’re looking for or discovering something they love unexpectedly at her table outweighs any financial concerns.

Inverness does not charge vendors to set up tables at the market. One of Riker’s customers, Juana Harmon, who bought an owl necklace, expresses her support for local crafters, believing that their creativity and hard work deserve recognition and support. Harmon traveled from her home in Lecanto to visit Inverness’ market.

Saturday marked Robert Sochocki’s first time as a vendor at the market. He already sells at other markets in Ocala, Mt. Dora, and the Villages. Initially, business was slow for Sochocki, but it picked up around noon, especially for his gluten-free products. Bernadette Patrick, one of Sochocki’s customers, expressed her enjoyment of the market, stating that it gets her out of the house and provides something interesting to see. Dennis Teegarden, a bartender at The Cove Resort and Pub, frequents the market with his girlfriend. He acknowledges that he could shop at Walmart, where prices are lower, but emphasizes the unique atmosphere of the market and the opportunity to engage with people. Teegarden even contemplates becoming a vendor himself, offering alcohol as a product that others don’t currently provide, thus adding an element that distinguishes the market.

Inverness City Manager Eric Williams occasionally visits the market to observe buyers and sellers and listen to what people want and say about the city and the market. He doesn’t disclose his administrative position to anyone at the pavilion. The city opened the market in late 2019, initially charging vendors $20. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the city waived the fee to help businesses generate more revenue.

Even after the pandemic ended, the city decided not to reinstate the charge. Williams states that the market represents a mutual investment between the city and the vendors, as the city ultimately recoups its $20 through sales taxes at the market or when visitors patronize local restaurants, downtown shops, or visit The Valerie Theatre. Williams expresses satisfaction with the success of the market and highlights the role his staff played in surpassing expectations. He adds that he wants the market to offer items that he hasn’t seen before.

Peyton Piestrup, a 45-year-old soapmaker, started selling handmade soaps and shampoos approximately a year ago. After paying off the mortgage and with their son moving out, Piestrup quit his job and began making soap, while his wife already owned her own business. Piestrup developed his “Big Guy Soaps” brand, listing the ingredients on each bar. He occasionally offers small soap samples to potential customers but mainly relies on word-of-mouth referrals.

His soap sells for $8 per bar, and his regular customers willingly pay the price because they appreciate the superior quality compared to major retailers. Over the past couple of years, Piestrup has refined the ingredients for the six different kinds of soaps he offers. The soaps also serve as shampoos, made with gentle oils and fragrances.

Piestrup humorously mentions that even his wife uses his soap now. Reflecting on cheaper soaps available at local retailers, he jokes about his own transformation from using them to creating his own superior products.

Fred Hiers is a reporter at the Citrus Chronicle. Email him at fred.hiers@chronicleonline.com.