The 12th annual Bikes, Blues & BBQ officially kicked off in Northwest Arkansas Wednesday.
Vendors are set up, selling biker garb and of course delicious BBQ! The music has also been going strong since Wednesday afternoon for the thousands who have already made their way to Fayetteville.
There were plenty of people on Dickson Street but there were also people out at the fairgrounds. It's the official rally campsite. And this year more people are bringing their RV’s and tents out than ever before.
For some bikers from Tulsa, the fun of Bikes, Blues & BBQ is at the rally's official campsite. For the last five years they've been loading up their RVs and making the trip to Fayetteville.
“We'd been doing hotels and stuff and we were having a hard time getting it,” says Art Couch. “We found out about this from a cousin and said you ought to try the fairgrounds. So we did.”
Now what started as a handful of people years ago has now grown to about 100 people. And they say it’s better than any hotel.
“This is a lot more fun because you can sit outside and have a campfire and just a fun deal,” Couch says. “And you can't get that at a hotel.
Connie Smith and her husband traveled from Iowa, and they say meeting new people is the best part.
Smith says, “At night well just all get together and enjoy tell stories and organize rides for the next day and go ride with people you haven't ever met before but you just make good friends.”
It's not just RV’s here, for some, like Carmon Clatt and her family and friends; it’s just their bikes and their tents.
“We've been on the road since 7 o'clock this morning we live in the northeast tip of Missouri and started out very cold and it got beautiful weather and this is our first time here,” Clatt says.
She says she's looking forward to camping out.
“We’ll set up a canopy and we've got our coolers,” Clatt says. “And well sit out here at night and just enjoy the company of everybody around us and meet new people so it’s a lot of fun.”
Organizers say the campsite reached capacity a month before the rally. They say it’s the earliest it's been filled.
