Myrtle Beach- A representative for Atlantic Beach said Thursday that the town was surprised by the Myrtle Beach Harley-Davidson dealership's plan to move its biker rally events into Memorial Day weekend, when the town has its annual Bike Fest, and wants to meet with the dealership and other area cities to talk about it.

After days of buzz about dates for the Harley rally, attention shifted Thursday to the other bike rally in May, the Atlantic Beach Bike Fest. One town councilman said the rally will happen as usual during Memorial Day weekend, while the town's mayor pro temp said Atlantic Beach needs to consider its options for the rally.

Atlantic Beach hasn't yet approved details of the annual Bike Fest that happens every Memorial Day weekend - it usually hasn't by this time - but plans to get a report on how much the town brings in and spends on the Bike Fest during a meeting Feb. 6, Mayor Pro Temp Carolyn Cole said Thursday.

"The council has not firmed up any plans," Cole said. "Atlantic Beach - we are concerned and we want to make some informed and responsible decisions."

Councilman Jake Evans said that Bike Fest will happen as usual. Revenue from the event - the town netted about $80,000 from Bike Fest last year, he said - already is in the town's budget for this year. He expects many more bikers along the Grand Strand with the Harley rally overlapping Bike Fest."I imagine that is going to be some crowd to control," he said, adding that he only recently learned about the Harley dealership's plan. "We are definitely going to go through with [Bike Fest]."

Confusion about the Harley rally has swirled since Friday, when the Myrtle Beach Harley-Davidson dealer posted the "Cruisin the Coast" rally dates on its website as May 18 through May 28, starting later than usual and continuing into Memorial Day weekend for the first time. Despite those dates, most area businesses that have rally-related events planned, including Jamin Leather and SBB, say they are sticking with the original dates earlier in the month, which would lead to three weekends of Harley-rally related events in May starting the weekend of May 11.

Horry County had planned to allow vendors for the Harley rally between May 14 and May 20, but the council agreed earlier this week to talk about potentially doing away with permits for vendors because of the shift in dates. That discussion will happen at the council's next meeting on Feb. 7. The Harley dealership moved its dates aiming to make it easier on the county, which has to provide public safety resources for the Harley rally then Bike Fest, said Denise Medlin, spokeswoman for the Myrtle Beach Harley dealer.

Phil Schoonover, owner of Myrtle Beach Harley-Davidson, suggested in an e-mail to Horry County elected leaders Dec. 3 that folks, including hospitality businesses, public safety and city and county leaders, meet to talk about shifting the Harley rally dates, managing the rally events and changing Horry County's rules for rally vendors. Medlin said the dealership never got a response to that e-mail.

"It's been explained to me that one of the major issues is the necessity of having to manage public safety for Harley week and Memorial weekend the same even though the events are not similar," the e-mail from Schoonover said. "I propose a change of the dates of the Spring events, eliminating one of the weekends by combining the two events into one, compressing the length of time from 21+ to 12-14 days total. Ending the event on either the Friday or Saturday of Memorial weekend with a "Guinness Book of Records" parade out of town, bound for the annual Rolling Thunder Reunion in Washington DC."