The Digby Wharf Rat Rally is one of Canada's largest motorcycle rallies, attracting thousands of motorcycles, riders and other spectators to

Digby, Nova Scotia Digby is an incorporated town in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. It is in the historical Digby County, Nova Scotia, county of Digby and a separate municipality from the Municipality of the District of Digby. The town is situated on the western s ...

. From August 31, to September 3, 2017 the Wharf Rat Rally had an overall attendance of more than 8,000 motorbikes and nearly 22,000 individual participants, including almost 17,000 out of town visitors. The Wharf Rat Rally is an annual five day event established in 2005, beginning the Wednesday prior to

Labour Day Labour Day ('' Labor Day'' in the United States) is an annual holiday to celebrate the achievements of workers. Labour Day has its origins in the labour union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for ...

Weekend and continuing until Sunday evening. The heart of the rally is the central town of Digby with events taking advantage of both the streetscape and the water. The event features a wide variety of activities including vendors, raffles, 50/50, watersport demonstrations, guided tours, live bands, stunt riders, demonstrations, custom bikes, ride outs, and workshops. Pamela Camp

Community events are strongly supported by the Rally:- providing visits to long-term care facilities; give a kid a ride event; memorial ride outs; blessing of the bikes. Funds are also raised on a variety of projects with the Philae Shriners, the

Royal Canadian Legion The Royal Canadian Legion is a non-profit Canadian ex-service organization (veterans' organization) founded in 1925. Membership includes people who have served as military, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, provincial and municipal police, Royal ...

Branch 20, the Digby

Search and Rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

, the

Order of the Eastern Star The Order of the Eastern Star is a Freemasonry, Masonic List of fraternal auxiliaries and side degrees, appendant Masonic bodies, body open to both men and women. It was established in by lawyer and educator Rob Morris (Freemason), Rob Morris, ...

and the Goldwing Road Riders Association. The Rally's mission is to plan, organize, and host the best family-friendly motorcycle rally event in Canada, appealing to bikers and non-bikers alike, contributing to the economies of Digby, surrounding communities, and the province of Nova Scotia. The Wharf Rat Rally's volunteer creed is 'Integrity, Respect and Trust'. Funded 50% by bike registrations to park downtown; 25% by federal, provincial and town grants; 25% by sponsors, advertisers and hosts.

Notable occurrences

In 2013, several of the 2014

Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depressi ...

models were introduced to the Canadian market at the event. In 2015 the event hosted Canadian musicians

Matt Minglewood Matt Minglewood (born Roy Alexander Batherson, January 31, 1947) is a Canadian musician whose style can be described as a blend of country, blues, folk, roots and rock. The name "Matt" was borrowed from his brother, Matt Batherson. Career B ...

and Sam Moon, as well as

Sons of Anarchy ''Sons of Anarchy'' is an American action crime drama television series created by Kurt Sutter for FX. Originally aired from September 3, 2008 to December 9, 2014, ''Sons of Anarchy'' follows the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club ope ...

actors

Kim Coates Kim F. Coates (born February 21, 1958) is a Canadian–American actor who has worked in both Canadian and American films and television series. He has worked on Broadway portraying Stanley Kowalski in ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' and in the lead ...

and

Theo Rossi John Theodore Rossi (born June 4, 1975) is an American actor and producer. He portrayed Juan Carlos "Juice" Ortiz on the FX series ''Sons of Anarchy'' (2008–2014) and Hernan "Shades" Alvarez in ''Luke Cage'' (2016–2018). His film roles i ...

for autograph signings.

Awards

Wharf Rat Rally in the Community in 2017

In 2018 the Association released an economic impact report regarding their 2017 event. The information in the report is summarized below. *Largest Wharf Rat Rally in Canada. *Involves over 300 volunteers. *Close to $20,000 donated to other non-profits and charities each year. *Annual visits to 4 long-term care facilities *Annual visits to 3 adult community living centres. *Annual visits to the Digby Hospital. *Run by a provincially registered not-for-profit society governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. *$4.9 Million boost to Nova Scotia's GDP and $6.7 Million in visitor spending directly attributable to the Wharf Rat Rally, Digby.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website

Facebook page

Instagram page

Twitter page

Information from Annapolis Valley Tourism

Motorcycle rallies in Canada Events in Nova Scotia Motorcycle associations __FORCETOC__