Red River community discusses future of motorcycle rally
The annual motorcycle rally in Red River was met with tragedy after a shootout between two outlaw biker gangs left three dead and five injured.
In response, Red River held a public meeting where dozens of residents shared their thoughts on the future of the annual event. Mayor Linda Calhoun spoke at the meeting regarding the fatal shooting.
"This is not who we are," Calhoun said. "This was a planned targeted attack by outlaw gang members."
The annual motorcycle rally has been held in Red River over Memorial Day weekend for the last 41 years.
The Red River Conference Center was filled with residents sharing their experiences at the motorcycle rally, among them business owners showing the leftover bullet casings and holes.
“This cannot continue and if you have any thought that you want to continue, you need to think about your family, my family. What is too much? When do we stop?” Heather Larson, a Red River business owner, said.
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Changes are being considered after both city officials and community members called for another way to honor Memorial Day. The city council discussed trying to focus its future events more on families and military veterans.
According to Calhoun, an incident management plan was in place.
Although she said there was a 30-second police response, more still could’ve been done.
“I'm the first one to say that we did fail. We weren't prepared for the fallout after the event. We were so focused on the actual incident that we didn't think how to respond to the community after that happened,” Calhoun said.
The rally is promoted by the town's tourism website. However, Calhoun said the motorcycle rally is not a town event.