FAYETTEVILLE — Can't you almost hear the grumbling of unmuffled exhausts resonant on the wind like a train off in the distance? They're coming.
Bikers. Hundreds of thousands of them. Loitering in leather, looking for something to do. Something other than soak their mustaches in barbecue sauce.
"As far as [the criticism] there's not much to do around Fayetteville, you're absolutely right," says Coleson Burns, assistant director of the annual Bikes, Blues & BBQ motorcycle rally.
So the city doesn't have much in the way of big-city haps - that's no secret. But Northwest Arkansas is the epicenter of some of the best twowheel touring roads in the nation, Burns says, and as far as the festival, "we're really trying to have more attractions and events for our guests."
Enter Habitat for Humanity and Jess Smith, the old voice of news on the Eagle-FM, 93.3;
KIXX-FM, 103.3; and Magic-FM, 107.9. "Goo-ood morning" Jess Smith. The guy who, for the last two decades, has entertained kids and adults at the Fire in the Hole roller coaster at Silver Dollar City dressed as "the Farcheef" alongside his Dalmatian, Buckets (who was replaced this year by a puppy, Freckles).
Smith is a board member of Habitat for Humanity of Washington County, the group that got its start in Georgia the same year the Peach State's native son took the White House. Since then, Habitat has built more than 300,000 houses, sheltering more than 1.5 million people across the globe.
The Washington County chapter has built 42 houses - about three a year - and its golf tournament has been its biggest fundraiser. This year, it will be a joint effort with Bikes, Blues & BBQ Inc., the nonprofit coordinating the festival.
For the $150 ticket, bikers and Habitat supporters will play Valley View Golf Course in Farmington for cash prizes, and if they have no other means to get their clubs here, the Fayetteville Convention and Visitors Bureau has offered its shipping address and storage prior to tee time.
The money raised this year will finance the first ever "Biker-built House" to be erected in Fayetteville around the 2010 festival.
Smith is not a biker. In fact, the last time he was on a bike was about the time Habitat was forming, but some two years back he thought to himself, "You know, Bikes, Blues & BBQ , a lot of their bikers are construction folks. If we could partner on the fundraiser ... and then use the money [and get] bikers from the area, or all over for that matter, to build another Habitat home - a 'biker-built' home ...."
Wendi Jones, Habitat's executive director, says both events help fill the empty hours.
"These bikers come into town, and they're professional people. They're not just hotrodders on their motorcycles. The goal was to give them something to do during the day when nothing's going on down on Dickson Street."
Many locals don't see the event as charitable, or even desirable, and "there's a wayto improve the image of what Bikes, Blues & BBQ does - raise money for charities," she says.
Smith understands the kinetics of a movement, the potential of masses. For decades he was the voice of news in Dallas and then Northwest Arkansas. Here, he got to know newsmakers such as former Fayetteville top cop Richard Watson, who conceived of the rally, first as a poker run for Meals on Wheels.
He knows that, just as the event raised the profile of Meals on Wheels, it will heighten people's understanding of Habitat for Humanity and specifically, what covenants Habitat houses carry.
Habitat f inds worthy families who couldn't otherwise own a home, then sets them up with an interest-free mortgage and several binding agreements. They cannot flip the house, for instance, or move in their relatives.
Since Clear Channel Communications ended its news programming earlier this year, for the first time in 10 years, Smith won't train his journalist's eye on the festival.
His plan B is already in effect.
"I was talking to a Harley-Davidson executive two years back, and he said this is the only rally he's ever been to where you see young couples pushing baby strollers through the lines of bikes," he says. "Being family-friendly and community-oriented, I got to thinking Habitat for Humanity would be a fit. I talked with bikers who were in construction, and theywere all for it." More information on Habitat for Humanity of Washington County or its fundraising golf tournament is available at (479) 575-9696 or
habitatwashco.org
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Northwest Profile, Pages 41, 43 on 09/20/2009