Johnstown, Pa — Rev up your engines! Thunder in the Valley is back for the 25th year in a row.
6 News spoke with one of the event organizers who says things are ramped up this years special event.
“It’s our 25th year,” said Jayne Korenoski, the Director of advertising and sales with Visit Johnstown.
Korenoski tells Channel 6 she can’t believe the 25th anniversary of Thunder in the Valley is already here.
“It’s the 25th anniversary of Thunder and I can remember when, the very first year," said Korenoski. "I think we had less than a thousand people show up, maybe five hundred. And we always say that it became the dog that caught the car and it just kept growing and growing and growing to what it is today.”
Korenoski added she can still recall when Thunder in the Valley first began in 1998.
“There were several bike enthusiast and motorcycle shops that came to the visitors bureau and they ask us if we would be interested in doing a bike rally because they felt that they felt that they couldn’t do it without the backing of an organization," Korenoski recalled. "So, we said yeah well do it, but we need to do it our way.”
And the staff of Visit Johnstown has been ‘doing it their way’ ever since!
At this years event, Korenoski says they have two major bands playing on Friday and Saturday nights.
“We always considered ourselves a more family friendly rally,” said Korenoski. “So, there’s something going on all weekend long at all locations.”
The rally events will take place across Johnstown this weekend from Central Park all the way to P.N.G Park.
Korenoski says the team at Visit Johnstown, plus their helpers worked hard to put this on years rally.
“The whole staff does everything they can to make it the best that we can for everyone in town and hopefully we can generate millions of dollars in the next four days,” said Korenoski.“We pray for good weather every year because you know that can make or break an event and the weather has been iffy, up and down we been watching it and I’m hoping that its wrong.”
Volunteers are still needed for Thunder in the Valley, contact Visit Johnstown if you're interested in volunteering.
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