County Chair Jason Davis, shown in the far left photo on his Harley for Biketoberfest, stands in far contrast to his image on the dais in this Headline Surfer photo. Davis produced a video of the biker rally.
DAYTONA BEACH -- First-year Volusia County Chair Jason Davis doesn't like it when people call him a politician. American Badass instead?
Nearing the end of his first year in elective office, the Iraq war hero who was injured during the Dessrt Storm Operation in driving Saddam Hussein's army out of Kuwait, warms up much better to that label.
Davis left the suit and tie at home and the gavel behind in chambers, as he donned a leather vest, jeans, boots and a black bandana on his bald head. He fired up his 2004 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide and celebrated with local bikers and thousands of others from across the USA and Canada for greater Daytona Beach's four-day Biketoberfest that ended Sunday.
Save for a busy Friday schedule in his County Council office in DeLand, Davis spent Thursday and Saturday drinking some beers with revelers on Main Street in Daytona, rocked with countless others entertained by live bands on the grounds of the Iron Horse Saloon in Ormond Beach and cruised into downtown DeLand and the nearby fairgrounds.
With the party ending early Sunday, Davis spent that afternoon selecting photos from raw footage he shot along the way to produce his own Biketoberfest video. It's 3 minutes and 50 seconds long and set to Lynyrd Skynyrd's classic biker anthem, "Call Me the Breeze."
With the party ending early Sunday, Davis spent that afternoon selecting photos from raw footage he shot along the way to produce his own Biketoberfest video. It's 3 minutes and 50 seconds long and set to Lynyrd Skynyrd's classic biker anthem, "Call Me the Breeze."
At left is a snapshot of County Chair Jason Davis' video tribute to Biketoberfest 2013, wih this scene-setter from Main Street in Daytona Beach.
Because of copyright issues with the use of the song in his video, Headline Surfer could not display it, but has provided a link here to his YouTube channel where you can watch it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeyT9KMq8P8&list=FLh5TGEXl7qGJLc-rbRlvlRw
Davis said he was pleased with the turnout for the rally with the weather holding up with sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-80s, save for some light rain here and there on about mod-day Sunday, when many bikers were already heading home.
Tourism officials have yet to tally the results, but Davis felt it was about the same as last year, which had slightly improved from a considerable slide in attendance in the last several years because of the recession. Prior to that, it wasn't unusual for a 100,000 bikers. In each of the the last couple of years, the crowds have been half that at best.
"It was pretty light on Thursday, but Saturday had a lot of people," Davis said. The county chair said he was inspired in producing the video from the extensive video coverage of special events by Headline Surfer.
Davis said the county's three ad authorities are welcomed to use his video in their marketing, if they'd like.
"It seemed like everyone was having a good time and it helps our local economy," Davis said.
"It seemed like everyone was having a good time and it helps our local economy," Davis said.
FAST FACTS: Jason Davis
Photos for Headline Surfer / Jason Davis, who is 50 and lives in Edgewater, is in the first year of his four-year term as chair of the Volusia County Council. He's a 30-year motorcycle rider and a war hero of the Gulf War, also referred to as Desert Storm.Did You Know?
Biketoberfest was established in 1991 by the Daytona Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau, typically scheduled scheduled for the four-day weekend immediately following Columbus Day. It's the smaller of the two motorcycle rallies centered in Daytona. Bike Week runs 10 days in February after Speed-weeks and the Daytona 500.