FAYETTEVILLE — A motorcycle rally for women was moved off Dickson Street this year because of a wine festival being held at the Walton Arts Center.
The second annual Bikes, Babes & Bling motorcycle rally is being held at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Fayetteville so it wouldn’t conflict with the 11th annual Art of Wine festival, a fundraiser for the arts center that’s billed as “Arkansas’ premiere wine tasting event.”
Both events began Friday and continue through tonight.
Last year, the first Bikes, Babes & Bling rally was held on Dickson Street and attracted an estimated crowd of 5,000. The motorcycle rally used the parking lot at thesouthwest corner of Dickson Street and West Avenue, which is needed this year for people attending the Art of Wine festival. The center is across West from this lot.
“They have first rights on that parking lot,” said Coleson Burns, event director for the motorcycle rally. “And that’s such a great big fundraiser for them.”
Burns said organizers checked the city calendar before deciding to hold the motorcycle rally this weekend. But Art of Wine wasn’t listed on the calendar.
“They just didn’t put it on their calendar,” he said.
Beth Goodwin, a spokesman for the arts center, said she wasn’t aware of the motorcycle rally this weekend, but the conflict was probably logistical rather than cultural. The thought of loud motor-cycles rumbling past the arts center probably had nothing to do with the decision, she said.
“It was probably a practical logistics question, ‘Where would people park?’” said Goodwin.
Since last year’s Bikes, Babes & Bling rally, the city has started charging for parking in the downtown area, both on the street and lots including this one.
Darrin Wright, field operations supervisor of parking management for Fayetteville, said the parking lot has 397 parking spaces. The maximum amount of revenue brought in by each space would be $5 per night, he said.
Burns said the city has set aside 16 days this year when that parking lot can be used for festivals.
Last year, the motorcycle rally was a three-day event from July 1-3. It was billed as “the South’s first motorcycle rally that focuses on women.”
This year, Burns said he’s projecting a larger crowd, in part, because 8,300 people have expressed an interest in the event on its Facebook page.
Burns had announced in March that the rally would be held at the fairgrounds.
Even if the rally is based at the fairgrounds, some events, such as a pub crawl tonight will be on Dickson Street, said Burns.
“We’re doing everything we can do things on Dickson without stepping on the toes of the Walton Arts Center,” said Burns.
While bikers are hitting the pubs on Dickson Street, the $150-per-ticket “premiere” wine tasting will be going on across the street at the arts center.
Burns said Art of Wine is a more established event so it made sense to find another venue for the motorcycle rally. Dickson Street is the center of Fayetteville’s entertainment district.
The women’s motorcycle rally is being put on by Bikes, Blues & BBQ Inc., which bills itself as the largest non-profit motorcycle rally in the United States. Bikes, Blues & BBQ holds a motorcycle rally every fall to the Dickson Street area, attracting a crowd estimated by promoters to be about 100,000.
Goodwin said the Walton Arts Center has a “symbiotic” relationship with Bikes, Blues & BBQ.
“Typically for Bikes, Blues & BBQ , we shut down completely because logistically there’s no way to operate,” she said. “The past couple of years, we’ve actually opened a beer garden and used the space out front here, but we don’t have any programming at that time.”
Burns said the women’s motorcycle rally is still in the early stages, so they can try new things, such as holding the event at the fairgrounds.
“Dickson Street has always been the heart of both of our rallies,” said Burns. “We absolutely love Dickson Street. But Fayetteville is big enough to have more than one thing going on at a time. We’re actually happy to have it at the fairgrounds. The fairgrounds is set up to contain a motorcycle rally.”
If things go well this year, Bikes, Babes & Bling may be held at the fairgrounds again next year, Burns said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 06/11/2011