Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Motorcycle Memories
Camaraderie is common thread at Steel Horse Rally
For Clay Faulkner, motorcycles mean memories of his dad, who died just a month ago.
“He’s the one that got me started,” says the Fort Smith resident. “We had dirt bikes and used to go out every weekend with probably 20 other fathers and sons. It was just a great bonding time with my dad — a common bond between father and son, which you don’t see a lot of nowadays.”
But Faulkner’s street bike was also transportation. He started riding it at 14 and learned how to haul everything he wanted to. “It was my car — and it was my fishing wagon,” he says.
Like many of the bikers on their way today to the Steel Horse Rally in Fort Smith, Faulkner is now retired and has time and money to invest in something he still enjoys.
“We always ride with a group of friends,” he explains. “One guy I ride with now was my childhood buddy — like 5-years-old childhood buddy! You just let life go when you get on a bike. You don’t have a worry in the world.”
Earlier this week, rally president Dennis Snow had plenty to worry about — but it was all logistics. In its third year, the event this weekend is expected to attract 75,000 to 100,000 bikers, says its founder. He bases his projections on the past: The rally started with about 10,000 and tripled to 35,000 last year. “If the norm holds, we’re looking at as many as 100,000,” he says.
That said, he’s not concerned about what participants will bring to the River Valley.
He knows they’ll spend lots of money. He expects most of them to fit Faulkner’s demographic: 40 to 60. He’s sure he’ll once again have the support of the community, from bikers to moms who run through downtown with babies in strollers on Saturday morning. And he believes those who ride will continue to undermine the stereotypes of “Jimmy Dean and throwing beer bottles through storefronts.”
“We police ourselves,” he says, and promises, “we’ll have less arrests than a normal weekend in Fort Smith.”
Snow says he “climbed on a motorcycle at 13 and never got off,” adding he started pitching a rally in Fort Smith more than 20 years ago.
“The powers that be didn’t quite understand it,” he admits, until Bikes, Blues & BBQ in Fayetteville created a model they could see and assess. “It took a lot of years and a lot of tears, but now the city embraces the rally — and knows we put millions of dollars into the economy.”
This year, Snow says, the rally is themed “Takin’ It to the Streets,” with the plan of turning Ninth Street between Garrison Avenue and A Street into “Steel Horse Alley.” That means, he explains, “for the first time ever, all of the music and entertainment [will be] on the main Steel Horse Rally Stage.” Entertainment includes Joe Giles and the Homewreckers, Mason Jar Revival, Juni Moon, Scattered Hamlet and Bobaflex, known for songs like “Bury Me With My Guns On.”
“Bobaflex is touring in support of their new single, a cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘Hey You,’” Snow adds. And Vendor Village will be adjacent to the entertainment, with “all kinds of food.” “You can’t miss it.”
Also new this year is the Heroes Salute ceremony and ride, which takes place at 5:30 p.m. today at the National Cemetery. After honoring all branches of the U.S. military and local law enforcement, bikers will be escorted to Garrison Avenue, “shutting down the street to motorcycle traffic only.”
Snow says while the Steel Horse Rally is still young, “one thing we have is a strong local flavor. Some of the bigger rallies have gotten too corporate, too big. People of this community are so supportive, and local bikers come out in droves.
“It’s a great city, with wonderful motorcycle roads — probably one of safest places to ride in the United States. And we don’t ever want to lose that local flavor.”