LOCAL EVENTS
Hell Ride in purgatory until next time
What could be more fun than riding your bike through the historic streets of San Marcos, partying with your friends and watching live music? The Hell Ride is a San Marcos tradition that is now in its 12th year. The event is hosted by CRC Bike Club and involves a large group of people riding bicycles, pedicabs, skateboards, roller blades, roller skates, scooters and other wheeled transportation from house to house where local bands are performing. According to one of the event organizers, Benny Rice, the entire event was planned and executed through volunteers, and it took six months of planning. This year’s musical lineup was Ton of Brass Band, Attic Ted, Tetsuo and Window Shop. Unfortunately, not all bands were able to perform, as the San Marcos Police Department attempted to put a kibosh on the event two stops in, the riders rode to the third stop assuming that they need only move from the last location, resumed the event, and it was broken up once again at the third stop. This all occurred before 10 p.m. on a Saturday night.
“I would hope that we get to work with the city, and we get to make next year's Hell Ride up to whatever standards they're looking for,” Rice said. “I hope that someone from the city reaches out, and we're going to try and reach out as well. I hope that we get to communicate and really figure out what works best. But no matter what, I can promise you, come hell or high water, Hell Ride will happen next year.”
According to the city of San Marcos, “at approximately 8:30 p.m. on… Oct. 26, the San Marcos Police Department responded to a complaint regarding crowding in a residential area near the 500 block of West San Antonio Drive. When officers arrived, they observed a large crowd, estimated to include approximately 400 people. Officers learned the crowd was related to an event organized by the CRC Bike Club.”
Rice said the first contact with the officers occurred at stop two when three police vehicles arrived, and within five to ten minutes, five more.
“They showed up as we were winding down the last song and trying to get everyone out onto the road to move on to the next stop. Then they found the third co-organizer who isn't here. They found him, and they started talking to him. The rest of us made sure to continue on just doing what the original plan was, which was to get everyone out of stop two and just head on to stop three,” Rice said. “It was more difficult because they were blocking the roadways, but we did the best we could. We have an organized plan. We have a schedule for every stop. We have a clear timeframe. We are walking and communicating with other volunteers to make sure we're getting people out safely and quickly on the road as best we can.”
The city of San Marcos said the officers noticed that the crowd was obstructing residents from accessing their homes via vehicle and blocking emergency vehicles from passing through the street.
“An individual identified as an event coordinator at the location was issued citations for Unruly Gathering, Violation of Host Responsibilities - Noise, and Violation of Host Responsibilities Blocked Streets,” the city said. “Later that same evening, the event reconvened at an address in the 700 block of Georgia Street prompting another police response. An individual identified as a host at that location was issued citations for Unruly Gathering and Violation of Host Responsibilities - Noise.”
Rice said there was a bit of confusion as to whether the crowd needed to relocate or dissipate, and the organizer at stop two was being held there by the police and was unable to communicate to the others involved.
“The police, by all appearances, seemed to have followed us to stop three, and then they forcibly shut off the power before talking to anyone, demanding that we all disperse but refusing to turn the power back on to let us make announcements,” Rice said, noting that it is a large event and difficult to yell over the crowd. “Once it was actually communicated to us as organizers that this wasn't a y'all need to move on to the next stop [situation]. … Once we understood that we needed to actually just disperse, and they are writing out multiple citations — we could tell people to leave.”
Ram Moore, a Hell Ride organizer, said it was a bit frustrating that no one from the city or the police department attempted to reach out and warn them beforehand as the event was promoted all over social media, and it seemed that the officers knew “what we were and what was happening” immediately upon their arrival.
The city of San Marcos said that no citations were issued for violating the Special Events ordinance, which requires a permit. An event, as defined by the ordinance, “means a temporary event, gathering or organized activity to be held within the city and is likely to attract 100 or more visitors including but not limited to circuses, carnivals, carnival side shows and other similar amusement enterprises.” The city said it was unable to comment on what the price of that permit would be.
“Officers educated event organizers and individuals regarding the Special Event ordinance requirements, which were adopted in October 2023, so that the permitting process may be completed for future events,” the city said. “We cannot estimate a cost for completing the permitting process until an event permit determination form is submitted and the event details are reviewed.”
When questioned whether they knew what the price of the permit would be, Rice was uncertain but knew “it’s not cheap.”
“I have friends who are on the board for the Just for Fun parade, and sometimes it feels like there's these very large financial barriers that prohibit grassroots organization,” Rice said. “I believe they had to do a traffic impact study, and then they had to get security of some sort. You have to get a parade permit, and these are all things that cost money and time.”
Moore said in the past, Hell Ride was paid for by the organizers. When the expenses became too much of a financial burden, CRC Bike Club began asking for donations. They are hoping they won’t need to fundraise for the tickets that were issued. The citations are pending at this point, so Moore doesn’t know if there will be a financial penalty or not.
“We've had a lot of support and outreach from people in the community in the aftermath of getting shut down — people offering their time, their ideas, their professional experience and also their money,” Moore said.
The CRC Bike Club hopes to host an event of some kind to give the bands who were unable to play at Hell Ride a chance to perform.
