BCR 2010 – A ghost town
Daytona Beach is a ghost town. No BCR signage and the hotels are empty. The once grand event that was BCR has rode off into the sunset. It’s a shame that Black College Reunion has dwindled to nothing, due to the of lack of support by the City of Daytona. From the complaints of noise from local residents to the occasional violence BCR has always had strong opposition. True, there have been isolated incidents of trouble at these events, but when you have 200 to 300,000 people in one area there are bound to be some bad apples. Instead of focusing on the majority of the crowd – The media, the city government and the residents used the negative factors to fuel their hatred for this event. Instead of living with blinders on, true leaders would be looking at the big picture. In a time where city governments around the country are laying off employees and cutting back on services, the top brass should be trying to exercise all avenues for revenue. This is short sighted planning. Everything that is here today is not guaranteed tomorrow. Depending on the NASCAR season to fuel Daytona’s budget for the year is reckless. To expect tourist to spend their vacations in an area with older hotels that have not been remodeled or update in years in silly. To bank on visitors coming to a beach that has increased their entry fees while reducing the lifeguard staff is laughable.
A major reason older businesses fail is from operating with a “Business as usual” attitude. Philosophies that worked 50 years ago will most likely be outdated. In the information age, ideas and processes die even faster. That being said, the City of Daytona needs to rethink, retool and reinvent itself. It IS possible to satisfy the residents and bring in millions in revenue at the same time.
Who suffers from demise of BCR? The businesses.
Daytona Beach is an aging city, from the residents to the hotels on the strip. What incentives are available to business owners to renovate? Why pour millions into repairs or renovations for rooms that are at 20 percent occupancy year round? Where is the money going to come from to pay the city’s employees? Property tax? Hotel tax? Sales tax? All of these revenue streams are drying up with foreclosures and the reduction of tourist dollars to the area.
This snowballing effect is based on old school thinking and older residents who will not be living there much longer.
…The ghost of BCR is watching and waiting to be revived.
Honestly man, as a lifetime local..youre assumptions and assessments of Daytona are completely untrue and unfounded. I came across your site because I was trying to get information about events that were going to be held, because we were looking FORWARD to you coming,as I work at a local night club. You do realize that your website is somewhat contradicting itself, correct? Last year, which by according to this article, was better than this year, wasnt even recognized by the city. But now this year, the City of Daytona officially lists BCR on its even ts calendar and its our fault people didnt come? Maybe the economy, popularity of other events, etc took away from it this year. But I’m not sure, as we just had the best spring break in years. And every event here, minus NASCAR(ill give you that), gets bad publicity. Maybe you didnt notice the medias coverage on “rampant sexual assaults and rapes during spring break”. And as to residents “used the negative factors to fuel their hatred for this event”..what the f*ck are you talking about?? I would say that hatred is a tad bit strong…I never felt scared, threatened..and for sure NEVER felt hatred for BCR. If anything, the worst part about it in the past has been the traffic. Which most locals are used to as events throughout the year choke our roads with extra traffic. So I am truly sorry that BCR isnt what it used to be. But dont come on here, blaming the city which has allowed BCR to come here for how many years..as the problem. We welcome the business and money it brings this town…dont disrespect us by lumping everyone that lives here into a narrow minded bigot category. Its not appreciated.
Not once in the article was race mentioned. The article was written to point out the economic ramifications of backwards thinking. As far as it being listed on the calendar, that was interesting, however nothing else was done. If a city ‘wants’ an event they promote it, they embrace it. BCR has not felt the love in years. Narrow mindedness was only directed towards the leadership of Daytona, not the residents (as a whole).
I understand race was not mentioned, as it shouldnt be. Because that(hopefully) is not what this is about. But honestly, you should be more specific as to who it is you are addressing when you write. As words can be hugely misconstrued without tone or inflection..or direction present. Yes, the leaders of this town are running it into the ground. There was actually an attempt with a group of young people with the help of a local radio DJ to get in touch with the Mayor to ask him why they are running any source of income out of Daytona. Of course, he would not respond. Its baffling, while businesses fail and people like me, with a 4 year, 20,000$ education cannot get a job. We APPRECIATE, as locals..any business this town gets. BCR, spring break, bike week, NASCAR, snow birds..yes, people may complain. And yes, the media vastly blows incidents that occur every day, but happen to occur during events far out proportion. But I truly believe that the “hatred” expressed towards BCR was a minority of residents. They are probably elderly and angry with life in general, as that tends to be the usual case. As I said before, I and many others I talked to, are sad that BCR no longer feels welcome here.
I work as a bartender in Daytona Beach. Spring Break has been bigger this year than in years past. Last night, I noticed a large group of students from surrounding states here for BCR. I think perhaps the thing that most contributed to the lack of success for this year’s BCR was Spring Bling. It was in Daytona the week before BCR. This caused the usual BCR crowd to come on two different weekends making it appear as though it weren’t a big event.
I grew up in Atlanta and witnessed Freaknik for years. I’ve been bartending in Daytona for three years and never felt that BCR was a bad thing (with the exception of receiving no tips from 90% of all BCR attendees). I have never requested the weekend off, I always treat all of my patrons with equal respect. It is frustrating to give great service and never see the rewards of my effort on this particular weekend; however, I know that my patrons do appreciate my efforts and I have to be content with working 3 nights and making my lovely $3.00 an hour until BCR is over.
I do hope this event makes a come back for the attendees and for the city of Daytona. I think that if everyone is respectful and works together it can be a great event. My husband used to run a night club in Daytona and they always had special events for BCR. The cops are hard on ALL groups that come to Daytona. There isn’t a group that comes and doesn’t manage to get in trouble. I think to feel that Daytona is trying to run this event out of town is inaccurate. Daytona treats all groups the same, they are all equally unimportant! Daytona is a typical beach town. They are apathetic to all events and all ideas that can create a great town. Perhaps one day it will return to the greatness of the past; however, I will not be around to see that day and my guess is BCR will move on too!
Comment submitted on March 20, 2010 by shanie272002
What BCR needs is publicity thats it plain and simple, radio advertisement, online, and newspapers for the ones who don’t know how to operate a computer. Everyone enjoys BCR and I am sure the crowds would return if they knew the times and dates of the event. So if we began to put time into trying to get the crowd back up I am more than positive it will happen. So I vow to try to make this event as popular as it once was. Just think about it, if we were to annouce this on facebook, twiiter, and myspace that alone would bring thousands. Why wait to the day of the event to be negative. I still plan to ride down there and see for myself how many people are there.
Hello, my name is Bryant. It was very interesting to read what the author wrote about BCR. The author is just saying what a lot of people are afraid to say. I’m 39 years old, and Chicago, IL is my home town. My first experience to any party of this nature was FreakNic in Atlanta. I use to look forward to going every year. I use to have a great time. Me and some of my friends use to drive down for the celebration and we always had good experiences to talk about. I truly think the politics changed in Atlanta, which caused the party to stop. When a city decides they no longer want a party to exist they just put the cops on us, and that’s what Atlanta did. A year later it was no big deal because I went to BCR for the first time and it was off the chain, better than FreakNic. I had a ball. The police were very friendly and accommodating. I even have a couple of pictures with two lady officers. The cities really made us vacationers feel very welcomed. As time went on the press became more negative. If I’m not mistaken BET was a major sponsor of BCR. I missed a few years and went back in 2006. It was not the same. There was hardly enough people to fill the streets of one block. The police were super tough. I remember standing in front of the hotel I was staying at with the hotel manager. A police officer on his bike road over and insisted we turn the music down in the car that was parked or he would give us a ticket. We told him it wasn’t our car. He then told the guy who car it was the same. The guy turned the music down. About 5 minutes later another car pulled onto the hotel parking lot and his music was loud also. The same cop came over with an even more aggressive tone than the first time and said “if I have to come over here again to tell you guys to turn the music down, you all are going to jail”. At that point I knew BCR was not a place for me anymore. Keep in mind it was about 2pm, the sun was out and we were just Chillin. Before when I use to go the police never cared how loud your music was. Plus this was on the hotels private property. As an out of towner not knowing all the details I believe BCR failed because the new mayor didn’t support it, more so fought it, and later BET dropped it. That’s ok for now because Miami, Memorial day weekend is my spot. I already have my 4 bedroom villa w/private pool lined up, plus a hotel on Ocean Drive. I say Atlanta and Daytona lost, Miami’s gains.