Lehighton's annual Bike Night event will be held next month, just not in the borough.

For the first time in its history, the 17th annual event will be held from noon to 9 p.m. Aug. 8 at the Franklin Township Fire Company. Poker Run registration will be from 9:30 a.m. to noon.That comes after the organization behind Lehighton Bike Night several weeks ago announced that the popular summer event would be canceled this year in the hopes of bringing it back "even bigger" in 2016.Last month, Jim Henderson, president of the Lehighton Downtown Initiative, said the group had recently reorganized, and as a result, pulling together Bike Night by the second Saturday in August, its usual date, would have been difficult.But, Henderson noted at that time that the LDI was not giving up, and planned to host an even better Bike Night in 2016.Contacted Friday, borough Manager Nicole Beckett said the borough is "disheartened" by the news.Beckett said LDI decided that it was not going to run Lehighton Bike Night, because it did not have a lot of vendors."Once evaluating the fact that there were only 10 vendors at that time, it didn't make any sense to proceed forward with the event," Beckett said.Beckett added, "It seems as though it was the intention to hold it in Franklin Township; that's being denied. What we found out was the previous organizers of Bike Night were willing to run it in Franklin Township, but not willing to run it in Lehighton."It's very unfortunate; the Borough of Lehighton has accommodated Bike Night in many ways and has allocated many resources to the event," she said. "This is truly unfortunate that the organizers are willing to run it in Franklin Township but not in Lehighton Borough, the home and the birthplace of the event."Beckett added, "It wasn't because we (LDI) couldn't pull this together.""It was unfortunate that it was not going to be held by LDI in the borough, but to hear it's going to be run in Franklin Township, that's disheartening," she said.Change in leadershipBeckett said LDI had touched base with the vendors, and had attempted to pull the event together in the borough since April.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 news of Bike Night's cancellation came as a disappointment to many fans of the event's Facebook page.Henderson took over the reins of LDI after Frank Potoczak's resignation earlier this year.Contacted this afternoon, Ty Poole, of Boatyard Bar & Grill, attempted to address the situation.Potoczak and Poole had been the organizers of last year's event in the borough.Poole, who resides in the township, said that in the beginning of the year, he was approached by the Franklin Township Fire Company."Being a local business person, having some knowledge of the event, I'm going to help them as much as I possibly can," Poole said. "I think it's great that somebody did step up and host it; I think it's better than not having it at all."Poole added, "Franklin seems very open-minded, and would like to see it grow and prosper a lot more than just what it's been doing. I've always felt that it could have been better.""I definitely believe the vendors, the spectators, deserve something," he said. "They've come to the event the last 16 years, supported our event."Proceeds from this year's event will benefit the Franklin Township Fire Company.However, Poole said there has also been some discussion about giving back some of the proceeds to the LDI.Keeping it going"I think it's a very kind gesture," he said. "I just think it's better that they hold it and keep something going on in the community rather than just not have it."Last year, for the first time in the event's history, Bike Night was held at the Grove, as well as the surrounding areas of Seventh Street, Eighth Street, Iron and Alum streets.That came after Potoczak and Poole met with borough council several months before last year's event to discuss the change in location after the event had been held in the lower and upper park as it had in each of the previous 15 years.At a special meeting held in February 2014, council made a motion to not allow the event to be held outside of the borough.That decision came after Beckett said Poole and Potoczak had informed her at that time that they were considering moving the event to Franklin Township because of construction work to the McCall Bridge, as well as lower park construction.Beckett said Friday that the borough, at the request of the Bike Night organizers, did change ordinances to allow for alcohol in borough parks, and electric was installed at the Grove.