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'The city embraces it': The economic impact of ROT Rally

While the Republic of Texas Biker Rally has come to an end, the thousands of people that come to Central Texas for it leave a pretty big impact on the local economy.

AUSTIN, Texas — The Republic of Texas Biker Rally has come and gone once again. Thousands of bikers and spectators come to Austin for the rally each year and they leave their economic footprint on the city in a big way. 

The annual rally draws tens of thousands of riders each year. 

"It gets busy, man," said Mike Coyle, who works on Sixth Street as a bartender. 

He says most of the bars get extra packed at this time of year. 

“It helps business – it’s just really fun you know,” said Coyle. 

No one knows that better than one of the men who helped start up ROT Rally. 

"The city embraces it," said Bob Woody, who owns multiple businesses across the city and was one of the co-founders of the popular motorcycle festival. 

"The typical numbers is anywhere between 30,000 and 40,000people come, and anywhere from $35 million to $50 million spent in a total of about four days," said Woody.

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"It really is what Sixth Street is about," said Woody. "Good piece of fabric for the city of Austin." 

Some motorcyclists seem to agree.

"That's kind of the spot to be in, you know," said Coyle. 

"What do we wanna do? Keep it alive. What do we wanna do? Keep it here," said Woody. 

When thousands of bikers are in town, city officials typically call for more safety precautions. First responders are still getting final numbers on the weekend relating to the rally, but it looks like this year there were fewer crashes than in 2018 or 2017. As of Sunday afternoon, EMS responded to seven crashes involving motorcycles. None of them were deadly. Last year, there were 18 crashes, and in 2017 there were 14 crashes including one deadly crash. 

WATCH: ROT Rally wraps up in Austin on Sunday night

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