Bud's Harley-Davidson

Well, there are new faces in a very familiar place tonight after more than 60 years, Buds Harley Davidson on Evansville's east side has a new owner and a new name. I would just use Cody Bailey joins us now with more on the dawn of a new era in the River City. Cody. Brad Shelley, while the signage has not yet been changed, the beginning of a new chapter is well underway for what is now Evansville Harley Davidson and the new ownership group led by Evan Shipper are ready to fill big shoes left behind. The end of an era and the start of something new. The dealership formerly known as Buds is now Evansville Harley Davidson. While new to Evansville, new owner Evan Shipper is no stranger to the motorcycle industry. He says his passion all started on his family's farm in north central Indiana. While on that farm, our family rode dirt bikes and then eventually rode motorcycles, got into riding Harley's. Shipper and his family purchased their first Harley dealership in 1998. He also owns dealerships in Louisville, Fort Wayne and St. Louis. I actually talked to the Marianne family some many years ago about potentially purchasing this dealership and at that point in time, it didn't work out. Shipper says Buds wasn't on his radar until the Marianne family expressed their desire to sell earlier this year. An opportunity hard to turn down. The biggest thing for me and it was Indiana, Indiana's home for our family. Shipper and new general manager Brian Rapier say the love of the area drew them to Evansville. In the midst of a transition period, some things remained the same as employees under Buds ownership were retained during the purchase. Some of them had different projects and stuff that they wanted to go do and we're certainly fine with that also, right? But yeah, we're definitely going to be higher and we're going to bring some new people in and mix them with the current people. According to Shipper, the decision to change the business name was difficult, but he and Rapier say they made a promise to the former owners to make them proud. We know and understand and respect the fact that the Buds name has been in this community and the family for so many years and we understand that we have to earn the right to do business with anybody and everybody. The new ownership group says customers will see some new benefits to the transition including a riding academy in the upcoming spring as well as increased inventory throughout the store.