MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) – Despite expectations that fewer bikers will be making their way to the Grand Strand for this year’s Fall Bike Rally, one business remains hopeful about rally sales.

Jamin’ Leather is opening up a new location in the North Strand, hoping for more customers like the Ostrowsys, who rode in to the Grand Strand this week looking to buy.

“Everybody comes down and spends money,” Mark Ostrowsky said. “Of course, a lot of it’s frivolous. You get in the spirit. It’s kind of like a kid at Christmas.”

The Ostrowskys are not the only ones tossing their shopping bags in the back of their bikes this week. Jamin’ Leather says the fall rally is probably the best rally for them when it comes to sales.

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The 2009 Fall Harley Rally started Wednesday with great weather, but most likely – fewer bikers.

It’s still easy to tell there’s a Harley Rally going on, especially in Murrells Inlet where we found bikers out soaking up the sunshine. The fall rally is much smaller than the spring rally held in May, and some bikers say that’s a good thing.

“I personally prefer the fall rally. It’s smaller, not as many people, but there’s almost as much to do, although I never miss either,” said Kevin Waldron, New Hampshire.

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FAYETTEVILLE — Amy Seligman was terrified of motorcycles when her husband bought one about 18 months ago.

She rode behind him for exactly two days, then went out and bought her own.

“I’d always ridden four-wheelers, but bikes, no way,” said Seligman, of Centerton. “I knew right away when I rode that I wanted to be in control of my own.”

She and husband Sean were just two of the thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts swamping Dickson Street on Saturday, the final day of the 10th annual Bikes, Blues & BBQ motorcycle rally.

Rabbit Cubbage first climbed on his bike to join his father, who’d ridden for years. After his father died, Cubbage, a youth pastor in Westville, Okla., kept riding.

“I started for the relationship with my dad, but now, I like it for the stress relief,” Cubbage said. “I do two things for stress, ride and golf. The difference is, if you screw up in golf, you don’t die.”

Ed Roach doesn’t remember what kind of bike he first rode, but that was more than four decades ago. He rolled into Fayetteville on Saturday on a Buell sportbike, but also owns a Harley and a dual-sport dirtbike.

“I just like to get out and see God’s creation, and there’s no better way to do that than on a bike,” said Roach, of Tahlequah, Okla. “Used to be I got a lot of dirty looks for being a biker, but it’s gone so mainstream in the last five years or so, there’s no stigma attached to it any more.”

Mainstream or not, Bikes, Blues & BBQ grew from a small gathering of riders outside a local restaurant and a poker run to one of the nation’s largest motorcycle gatherings in just a decade. Attendance estimates have exceeded 300,000 in the past few years.

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