Barrow’s Dave Day has been given £10,000 by Westmorland & Furness Council.
The authority has issued a statement about the event, due to take place in the town on June 20.
Dubbed the Last Ride Home, it will be the last Dave Day in the town.
The council said in 2024 and 2025 it and the multi-agency Safety Advisory Group had absorbed what it called considerable costs of the safety arrangements for thousands of bikers to arrive in Barrow.
It said although it was not the organiser: “The council embraced Dave Day in both previous years and committed significant time and resources to ensuring the bike procession happened safely, arranging road closures, crowd safety measures, parking facilities and deploying dozens of staff to support.
“This required lots of careful planning and multi-agency co-ordination behind the scenes and we are pleased that both years the days passed off without major incident and were widely praised and enjoyed.
“In addition, the council allowed use of its facilities, including the town hall, supported events and activities in the town centre and staged a special Dave Myers exhibition at the Dock Museum to coincide with Dave Day, all of which played a significant part in contributing to the wonderful atmosphere.”
For 2026, Barrow BID has agreed to act as event organiser for the arrival of the bike procession and will arrange its safety elements such as crowd barriers and road closures.
It added: “To help towards the BID’s costs, the council explored possible funding support through the Furness Locality Board, which is a board made up of local Barrow and Furness councillors.
“While the Furness Locality Board was clear that it supports Dave Day and the economic benefits that it brings to Barrow, its grant budgets are intended to support local community organisations, projects and priorities around health and wellbeing and poverty prevention.
“Providing funding from its budget for Dave Day would therefore mean less money available to support community organisations in Barrow.
“While the request did not meet the criteria for locality board funding, the council has been able to commit £10,000 from other budgets towards the BID’s arrangements around the safe management of the 2026 bike procession arrival and has once again offered ‘in-kind’ help from staff and use of council facilities for Dave Day, including use of the town hall and parking facilities.
“The council has always been clear that it values Dave Day and we are pleased that the bike procession organisers have now clarified their plans for this year.
“The council has provided considerable support to every Dave Day event and we will once again be providing significant funding and in-kind help for this year’s event.
“The council has always wanted to continue to harness the energy of Dave Day, to see it evolve and grow, and we look forward to welcoming people to enjoy another Dave Day in Barrow in June.”
