Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/763593
58 nJanuary 2017n www.thunderpress.net THUNDER PRESS ner of the day's rodeo received the Championship Rodeo Belt donated by Bare Bones Leather. Further down the Seawall, Harley- Davidson had completely taken over the expansive parking area across the street from Pleasure Pier. There The Motor Company had brought in three trailer rigs and a huge assortment of new bikes for demo rides. While there were organized short demos scheduled for both the morning and afternoon, an 80-mile VIP ride that included lunch was offered for those with a true interest in the purchase price. (Never did fi nd out what it took to qualify for that special perk.) If there wasn't enough money available for a new scooter right now, almost 400 vendors were split between The Strand and Seawall Boulevard offering a huge variety of trinkets, bike parts, installs, food and drink. One of the most inter- esting was Lawrence Ah Ching, who was applying Polynesian hand-tapped tattoos. Music headliners for Friday night included the 80's Canadian rock group Loverboy at Saengerfest Park and the always favorite and outrageous Hairball at Beach Central (envision a musical circus). A cool front blew through Friday night dropping the temperatures into the delightful range and, if the fi rst two days on Galveston Island were ideal, Saturday literally hit a biker homerun. And it doesn't take much imagination to picture the thousands who took to the roads in celebration of the last major rally of 2016. If you were a fan of custom bikes, Saturday was packed with three shows offering an abun- dance of metal mastery, bewildering alterations and colorful eye candy. All three shows were based around Beach Central Park and included the Ride- In Custom Bike Show, the Baddest Bagger Show and the Perewitz Paint Show. The Ride-In Show featured a variety of choppers and customized stock bikes and numbered around three dozen entries. With the public fasci- nation of garish big-wheel, fi berglass audio barges, it was not surprising to see almost 60 entries in the Baddest Bagger competition. And the respect- ability of the Lone Star Rally was apparent when noticing license tags on these bikes from as far away as Tennessee, Arizona and Pennsylvania. The Perewitz Paint Show did not begin until after the awards were presented for these fi rst two shows, allowing competitors to roll their bikes just a few blocks down Seawall Boulevard to the historic Galvez Hotel where the contest was held. And it felt like a time machine had whisked us away to a decade earlier, during the heyday of the custom builder era with Jerry Covington, Eddie Trotta, Rick Fairless and Dave Perewitz all on hand during the weekend, either manning a display booth or serving as a judge in a show. Outlaw Dave's Ranch Ride also blew into town on Saturday for the 13th year. Leaving from Stubbs Harley-Davidson, the riders rode south on I-45 with a police escort and made a run down The Strand. The $20 dona- tion to participate in the ride goes to help neglected animals and included a free breakfast at the dealership along with a commemorative T-shirt. The Strand remains as the one stretch that everyone seems deter- mined to profi le down at least once during the weekend. Afterwards, they return to park along the high curbs and cobblestone and watch as thou- sands of others do the same slow- paced profi ling. And while the limited parking at both The Strand and the Seawall have always been a problem, with this year's excellent weather conditions, the dilemma surged with parking along The Strand three-deep in places. The later in the day, the more the crowds pressed in from both sides to take a selfi e choking the already-congested traffi c to a stand- still. The epitome of this practice was on Saturday afternoon when a mom stopped all traffi c on The Strand while she positioned her three-year- old daughter (whom she was pulling in a plastic wagon) in the middle of the narrow street while she shot a series of photos with hundreds of frustrated bikers on overheated bikes as the backdrop. This is a problem that must be addressed but seems to have no solution other than possibly adding a third major venue to aid in dispersing the crowd. And while the restricted park- ing clearly exemplifi es the cramped conditions on an island this size, a limited number of beds also means attendees are literally at the mercy of the hotels. A bitter pill to swallow; hotel rates skyrocket during the rally, increasing three-fold and greater. Lone Star was still in full swing on Sunday with Harley continuing their demos, another car show at Pier 21 and live music throughout the day. Those leaving the island late did encounter a line of thunderstorms as they headed west to Houston and cen- tral Texas—a wet ending to a glorious weekend. Overall this was a banner year for the rally with attendance at a high, arrests remaining fl at, vendors ending 2016 on a high note and the chance to put politics in the rearview mirror for a few days. 4 "That's your target, the guy with the Canon wearing that THUNDER PRESS shirt" The Pocos Locos made a group ride from San Antonio to Galveston to attend the largest rally in Texas Friday's activities at Beach Central included the bike rodeo featuring the keg roll competition Lone Star Rally Continued from page 49