Bikes Blues and BBQ facts for kids
Bike Blues and BBQ started as a rally for motorcyclist and quickly lost the vision of the importance of brother and sisterhood with biker. Since the 2020 event was cancelled, several spin off groups have emerged that are focused not on making money off motorcyclist but instead on building a stronger community within the biker culture as well as providing support to local merchants that have supported the biker world through the years.
Bikes Blues & BBQ (alternatively named Bikes Blues and Barbecue, or abbreviated BBB or BBBBQ) was an annual motorcycle rally that took place in Northwest Arkansas centered on Fayetteville, usually in late September. Raising nearly $0.24 for charity and another $0.19 in sales tax per attendee over twenty years, the “Largest US Charity Rally” was suspended in 2020.
The festival had a good safety record. In 2011, there were no reported fatalities.
A sister festival, Bikes Babes and Bling, was first held July 1–3, 2010, also in Fayetteville. The City of Fayetteville provided subsidies to both the 2010 and 2011 Bikes Babes and Bling festivals. In 2010 the sister festival drew approximately 5000 participants; the Northwest Arkansas Times reported that "only a few dozen people" were at the site midday on the main day of the 2011 festival.
In addition to the rally, there were many bands, a parade, a bike show, a bike giveaway, barbecues, the Bikes, Blues, and BBQ Babes contest, and many other official and unofficial events. Its organizers claimed the rally was second only to Sturgis.
