Bikes Blues and Barbeque

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Bikes, Blues, and Barbeque is an annual motorcycle rally that takes place in Fayetteville, Arkansas (a college town). The event generally takes place during the last weekend in September and usually goes from Wednesday through the weekend. However, in 2007, the event will run from October 3 to October 6. The center of the rally is downtown, and more specifically "Dickson Street" (which is semi-famous in the Northwest Arkansas area), just a few blocks from the University of Arkansas campus, and near the Walton Arts Center. The event begins every year with a ride into the city through the Ozark Mountains. The event supports a large number of local and national charities, raising over $125,000 for area charities in 2006. [1]

In 2006, the event had an estimated attendance of over 350,000.[2] (up from about 300,000 in 2005, and about 200,000 in 2004 [3]) Exact statistics are not known, because there is no entrance fee, and it is an "open" rally downtown. The rally has been stated as the fastest growing motorcycle rally in the world, beginning only in the year 2000.[4]

In addition to the rally, there are many bands that play, a parade, bike show, a bike giveaway, lots of barbeque, the Bikes Blues and Barbeque Babes contest, as well as many other official and un-official events. The rally has been said by many to be second only to Sturgis.