![]() ![]() Tom Wright, R-New Smyrna Beach, was approved this past week by the Senate Rules Committee. “But I can tell you that if this thing looks like it will take off, I guarantee you they (Truck Meet visitors) will see more cops and tow trucks than they’ve ever seen.”Ĭhitwood also is closely watching the progress of bills working their way through the state Senate and House of Representatives that would offer tools to help manage social media “pop-up” events such as the Truck Meet.Ī proposal (SB 1954) sponsored by Sen. Likewise, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said that it’s too soon to know what might transpire at an event in June, but the Sheriff’s Office is monitoring the situation. I’m not concerned about it at this stage I’m just alerting everybody.” “Right now, it’s difficult for hoteliers to tell if guests booked for those dates have a truck or not. “We are just keeping an eye on it,” he said. “Then, if it gets on Facebook, we get a black eye.”ĭavis sent an email alert about the social media buzz to association members this past week, but acknowledged that it’s too soon to tell whether truck fans actually are headed to Daytona Beach. “We don’t need that,” Bob Davis, president and CEO of the Lodging & Hospitality Association of Volusia County, said of the Truck Meet mayhem. So long, Daytona Truck Meet: Event won't return to Volusia in 2022, organizers say Local officials watching carefullyĪt the same time, the social media response advocating a return to Daytona Beach has drawn the attention of both tourism leaders and law enforcement. The site lists three-day spectator passes for $30, with the cost for truck registration ranging from $100-$200. Instead, the newly rechristened Florida Truck Meet is officially slated to unfold June 10-12 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, according to a recent announcement on the event’s website,. The post went on to state that “the nighttime unruly activities has forced our hand to not disrupt the Daytona Beach community no longer,” adding that “we tried everything in our wheelhouse to keep the show local.” “Due to circumstances out of our control #DaytonaTruckMeet will no longer be returning to Daytona,” organizers posted on the event’s Facebook page. In December, event organizers announced that the event would not return. 'Get rid of this event': Daytona Beach police chief: End truck meet 300 officers trying to control 50,000 visitors “I just want it gone," he told commissioners. ![]() The ensuing mayhem resulted in 1,111 traffic stops, 940 citations, 13 crash reports and dozens of arrests including 10 felony charges and seven driving under the influence charges.Īt a subsequent Daytona Beach City Commission meeting, Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said that he wanted the event never to return. The latest edition of the three-day event in June attracted some 5,000 monster trucks and 50,000 spectators. He couldn't be reached by email or text to comment on plans for the 2022 event or the apparent intention of some monster truck fans to return to Daytona Beach. The event is presented by Jordan Muhlbauer, owner of Ponte Vedra-based Truck Fever, LLC. In its eight years in Daytona Beach, the gathering of monster trucks and the people who love them had developed a reputation as an unwelcome annual event that turned city neighborhoods into war zones beset by roaring engines, ear-splitting train horns, smoke-belching exhaust systems and objectionable behavior by attendees that treated the city like an open-air toilet and trash can.Īlthough official events were based at Daytona International Speedway, the monster truck invasion ultimately overtook area roads and neighborhoods, sparking traffic jams and noise complaints well into the early-morning hours. “If I’m coming down, I’m going to do Daytona,” posted Robert Welsh, of Ashtabula, Ohio.Ī vast majority of the other responses echoed that opinion, often in defiant statements punctuated with profanity and disdain for the myriad complaints the event has generated among residents, law enforcement and other area leaders. “Everyone I know is going to Daytona,” posted Dylan Powell, of Indiana. Of the nearly 130 responses to the informal survey, only 10 votes were cast for South Florida. That sentiment was in response to a post in the Daytona TruckToberfest group, a forum for nearly 8,000 fans of a separate, unrelated fall monster truck event, that asked simply where Truck Meet fans were planning to go in June: Daytona Beach or Miami? ![]()
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