This weekend, March 29-31, motorcyclists from across the country will ride to West Point for the Spring Bash Bike Rally to party with fellow bikers and participate in contests. The rally will take place at the Rocking M Event Center.
One does not have to own a motorcycle or ride one to have a good time at the bash. According to rally organizer Linda Koch, there will be plenty of activities to keep people entertained.
“People should just come and enjoy the party,” Koch said. “It is interesting to watch the bike games.”
Disc jockey Fast Eddie will host the event, and bands Ziggy Swag, Way to Nowhere and Fast Scarlett will perform.
“Ziggy Swag is a young band that really gets the crowd working,” Fast Eddie said. “Fast Scarlett has played at rallies I’ve been at before; they have a large following and love playing rallies.”
Twenty-five vendors will be present at the rally. One of the vendors is the motorcycle magazine Easy Rider, the largest motorcycle magazine in the world, according to Koch. Motorcycle paraphernalia and tattooing are among other vendors.
The bike games planned range from skillful to risque. One game is a slow race that tests drivers’ abilities to maintain balance on their motorcycles; the last one to finish wins.
Another game involves women carrying a bottle of water while being driven around a track on a motorcycle. The woman with the most water left wins.
With all the risque riding going on, one wouldn’t think that philanthropic organizations are involved. The Christian Motorcycle Association and American Bikers Active Toward Education are going to be present to help raise money for the rally’s charities, Sally Kate Winters Children’s Home and the West Point Volunteer Fire Department.
“Both of them are in bad need,” Koch said. “The fire department has no radio and a half-equipped fire truck. The children’s home is for abused and neglected kids; they are always in need of money, food, clothing and toys.”
A wet T-shirt contest and a performance by the Hooters girls from Tuscaloosa, Ala., make this event adults-only.
“This is not going to be a family event; it’s going to be a real bike rally,” Koch said. “The bike rally in Sturgis, Miss., has gotten real family oriented.”
Various outlaw groups, including a chapter of the famous Hell’s Angels, will be present at the rally. Koch said the biker gangs are reasonable people as long as their space is not violated.
“They come for a good party; if you respect them; they respect you,” Koch said. “It makes them mad if you go into their camp or mess with their old lady.”
The food at the festival includes award winning barbecue, smoked sausage, funnel cakes and a wide variety of other options. A Budweiser truck will be there selling beer, but people can bring in their own alcohol.
Koch does not think attracting a crowd for the rally will be a problem. She said the weather is the deciding factor even though the bands and games will take place under the roof at the M Event Center. Eddie said he is expecting between 1,000 and 4,000 people.
After three years of planning, Koch, her husband Robert Koch and Fast Eddie have pulled the bike rally together.
The Koch’s have participated in biker shows for the past 10-15 years. This is the first time they have been the organizers of a rally, but they vend at rallies around the country with their West Point-based tattoo and piercing business.
The West Point community was a little worried at first about what this rally would bring to the town, but all hotel rooms in Columbus and West Point are fully booked for the event.
“It is a big impact for the community financially,” Koch said. “You get treated differently if you put on a bike rally rather than a snobby golf tournament.