The organization behind Lehighton Bike Night has canceled the popular summer event this year in the hopes of bringing it back "even bigger" in 2016.

Jim Henderson, president of the Lehighton Downtown Initiative, said the group has reorganized. He said pulling together Bike Night by the second Saturday in August, its usual date, would have been difficult."Several years ago, when no one stepped forward, LDI took over Lehighton Bike Night," Henderson said."It has been a challenge every year to pull the event together and this year has been no exception. However, we are not giving up and plan to host an even better Bike Night in 2016. We want to make sure that the vendors who attend are successful and the people who come will be able to enjoy a more family friendly event."Formed as the Lehighton Downtown Initiative Committee in 2007, the group dropped the word committee based on a recommendation by the National Main Street Foundation."The mission of this group has been to revitalize Lehighton's downtown, making it attractive for people to come and shop, dine and even live," Henderson said. "That still is and will continue to be our focus."LDI looks forward to working with other organizations such as churches, clubs and schools to come up with new events."One of the events we are working on is a concert series in the amphitheater with several different types of music," Henderson said."Also under consideration are different types of festivals in the parks. We are a positive and forward-thinking group of concerned citizens who want only the best for our town."The news of Bike Night's cancellation came as a disappointment to many fans of the event's Facebook page.Barbara Walck, of Lehighton, said, "I don't think you should cancel bike night! It always was a great turnout from year to year."Nicole Zelly warned, "You cancel an annual event, it will never draw the crowd it did before. It's the only event that the town has anymore."Henderson said he disagrees."Main Street is the same group that got Jim Thorpe going 10 or 12 years ago," he said. "They gave us a game plan, which we are just starting to implement."Henderson took over the reins of LDI after Frank Potoczak's resignation earlier this year."The closer we got to Bike Night, we just didn't see it happening," Henderson said, adding that the group has several new members."The vendors were not coming across. Support from some other groups wasn't there. We didn't want anyone to lose money or put on a bad show. We made a conscious decision to plan for next year."This year would have been the 17th annual Bike Night.In the past, the event included a bike show, biker games, live music, vendors, contests and a poker run.Next year's event could be a weekend-long celebration."We'll be reaching out to groups in the next month or two to help us go forward," Henderson said. "If we can get people here throughout the weekend and fill up campgrounds and hotels that would be great. I'd love to have bikers in the amphitheater on Sunday morning for a church service. These are the kind of things we're talking about."Anyone wanting to help the Lehighton Downtown Initiative can attend its next meeting at 6:30 p.m. July 9 on the second floor of Lehighton Borough Hall.