Harley-Davidson riders worldwide are gearing up for an epic year of Harley events as the company announces its Europe, Middle East & Africa rally and event schedule for 2016.
Each Harley-Davidson event is deliberately designed to have its own unique character, giving visitors a distinct and different experience at each venue and a real ‘reason to ride’ to each one. Constant across all events will be great live music, custom bike shows, demo rides, parades, dealer & traders areas, ride-outs – and the camaraderie of thousands of fellow Harley riders.
The event season kicks off in earnest at Grimaud, in the chic Cote D’Azur resort of Golfe de St-Tropez on 28 April-1 May with the 10th annual Harley-Davidson Euro Festival. There will be a chic, relaxed atmosphere at this hugely popular beachfront event in the Harley calendar. Over 15,000 Harley devotees attended the 2015 Euro Festival, and this year as many or more are expected to soak up the resort atmosphere, listen to some great music on the beach stage and chill out at the many restaurants, nightclubs and bars in the region. Tickets for Euro Festival go on sale soon – announcements will be made on H.O.G. and Harley-Davidson social media or visit www.harley-davidson.com/events soon for ticket sales details.
The highlight for many Harley riders each year is the European H.O.G. Rally, which moves to a different location each year. For 2016 the chosen venue for the 25th Annual European H.O.G. Rally is the beautiful Slovenia beach resort of Portorož. This event takes place 16-19 June in this stunning location, which has never hosted a major Harley-Davidson event before; over 10,000 riders are expected to attend this year and the 2016 event will be open and free.
The traditional season closing event once again takes place in Austria when the Alpine lakeside village of Faak am See will once again play host to Europe’s biggest open and free biker festival, European Bike Week. From 6-11 September more than 120,000 riders from all over Europe and beyond will be turning the province of Carinthia into a gigantic Harley-Davidson festival. The event will provide entertainment, events and activities to suit every taste, amid some of the most breathtaking scenery and riding roads to be found anywhere in the world.
“2016 will be another great year for Harley-Davidson events, and we are confident we have our most exciting schedule yet,” said Trevor Barton, Harley-Davidson Europe Consumer Experience Manager. “Last year’s Euro Festival and European Bike Week events hit record numbers of attendees and with the European H.O.G. Rally open and free and in a completely new venue in the fantastic scenery of Slovenia, we are confident we will deliver the best season of Harley-Davidson events yet’.
As well as the ‘Big Three’ events, the 2016 Harley-Davidson calendar contains a host of events across the region, from Africa Bike Week in Margate, South Africa in April to the H.O.G. Middle East & North Africa Rally in December; in between are the hugely popular urban ‘Harley Days’ events in Hamburg, Norway and St-Petersburg and major events in countries as diverse as Bulgaria, Finland, Ireland, Poland and Bahrain. For details of all Harley-Davidson and Harley Owners Group events for 2016, log on to the Events Calendar on www.harley-davidson.com/events.
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