FAYETTEVILLE — Volunteers swept away the last traces of Bikes, Blues & BBQ early Sunday morning.
A few bikes still rolled down Dickson Street, but by mid-morning most of the celebration was packed away as workers packed away fences and tents.
Teenagers from Lincoln High School started their day at 8 a.m. in the parking lot across from Baum Stadium; by 10 a.m. that lot was clear and they started in on Dickson Street.
“It’s good for our kids to get out here and be a part of the community,” said Brad Harris, football coach at Lincoln High School.
At A Glance
Miss BBB
The annual Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys’ Miss Bikes, Blues & BBQ Contest crowned first, second and third place winners just after midnight on the Main Stage in the Dickson Street beer garden. The first place winner received the title and $1,500, second place took home $500 and third place took home $250.
This year’s winners were: Erica, Lynsey and Eric.
Note: Winners are announced annually by their first name.
Source: Bikes, Blues & BBQ
About 60 people, football players, and boys and girls basketball players and parents, came out to clean up the mess. They get a small donation in return, but the day is about giving back and learning some life lessons, Harris said.
“I’ll never throw my trash on the ground again,” said Madison Rothrock, senior at Lincoln High School.
Her cousin Ashtyn Rothrock, sophomore, said she will be more respectful of people who have to pick up trash in the future.
Teens said they found flattened Twinkies across the Baum Stadium lot, a little trash and a ton of cigarette butts. On Dickson Street they used brooms and shovels and some leaf blowers to corral the ticker tape of wristband backing strips around the entry to the beer tent.
The bags with liquid in the bottom were the worst because you didn’t know what it was and if it would leak, said Lane Maddox, junior.
Football players said the day was a chance to show their work ethic.
Web Watch
Plan for next year’s event by visiting
www.bikesbluesandbbq.org
“Hard work beats talent, but talent doesn’t work hard,” they chanted, quoting Harris.
Another group of volunteers swept a two blocks line across Dickson Street starting at 6 a.m. Sunday morning, said Carmen Newberry, volunteer coordinator for Bikes, Blues & BBQ.
“We try to get the cleanup done fast,” Newberry said
As community members go back to their routines the trash won’t be there. The lots should look at least as good as when they found it, she said.
The number of volunteers was up, more than double last year, she said. Newberry estimates there were 500 volunteers this year, over last year’s 200. Volunteers kept the trash collected, worked in the beer tent, served as parking lot attendants and sold tickets for the train. Another couple hundred volunteers for next year wouldn’t hurt, she said.
“It’s easier to stay on top of stuff if you have a lot of people,” she said.
The 15th anniversary of Bikes, Blues & BBQ will be bigger and better, said Joe Giles, executive director.
Giles is already looking forward to next year, although on Sunday afternoon he was still cleaning up. This week organizers will start planning again, capitalizing on this year’s successes like it’s killer road bands, family-friendly car show at the Northwest Arkansas Mall and the well-attended campground at the fairgrounds with its lawn tractor pulls, karaoke contest and saloon, Giles said.
Before next year’s festival starts he hopes to have an official count from this year. Based of beer and merchandise sales he estimates 200,000 to 250,000 on Dickson Street, but that doesn’t capture everyone who comes, Giles said.
Some people come to the festival, but never arrive at Dickson Street, he said.
Aerial photos of the crowds on Dickson Street, at Baum Stadium, Northwest Arkansas Mall and even Pig Trail Harley Davidson in Rogers and Eureka Springs will tell more about how many people attended this year’s Bikes, Blues & BBQ, he said.
“We think on a regional basis it really is 400,000,” Giles said.