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SMITHS FALLS — Christin Storms, the Smiths Falls woman who kick-started a monthly motorcycle meet in this Eastern Ontario town, is uncertain about the long-term future of the popular event after learning she was on the radar of the Ontario Provincial Police’s Biker Enforcement Unit.
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Following the June edition of Bike Night, the 44-year-old mother of four and owner of the Craft Witch, a store that sells craft supplies in Smiths Falls, was summoned to a meeting with police, fire services and town officials. A couple of fellow business owners from the Smiths Falls Downtown Business Association were also invited.
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The event under scrutiny — Smiths Falls Bike Night — has been taking place for two years, landing on the first Wednesday of each summer month. Depending on the weather, it can attract thousands of motorcyclists of all ages, who park their two-wheelers along the clean, wide, recently upgraded Beckwith Street.
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Throngs stroll by to check out the vendors, beer garden, bikes and bands, as well as the town’s shops, bars and restaurants. There’s no admission charge or tickets, so it’s hard to predict how many riders will show up.
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But on a fine summer evening, attendance estimates this season have ranged from 2,000 to 6,000 bikes a night. Between the riders, passengers and onlookers, the crowd can swell to 8,000 or more.
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The population of Smiths Falls is about 11,000.
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Storms expected the June 9 meeting would be a routine planning session ahead of the next event, scheduled on Canada Day, but the tone changed when an officer from the OPP’s Biker Enforcement Unit walked into the room.
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Instead of focusing on road closures and detours, Storms and her colleagues were treated to a PowerPoint presentation that started with a tutorial on recognizing criminal motorcycle gangs, and continued with a slide show comprising surveillance photographs from the June 2 Bike Night, including shots of Storms greeting bikers with hugs.
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When the officer observed that she hugged a “bad” guy, Storms was taken aback, then shocked at the insinuation that she was inviting crime to town.
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“Was I dealing drugs in this photo? Did I stab somebody? What were they trying to portray? And why were they telling all my community partners?” she wondered. “It was absurd; I hug everybody. So then I was sitting there having a live panic attack.”
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Storms, a former daycare operator, had