Bikes Event Roaring Along

Arkansas National Bank has committed $15,000 as the primary sponsor of this year’s 4th annual Bikes Blues & BBQ event.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc., Sonic Drive-In and Miami Wild Rides of Van Buren are $5,000 sponsors for what is being labeled as the “fastest growing motorcycle festival in the world” with more than 50,000 bikes attending last year.

Also, Arvest Bank and Fayetteville Yamaha are underwriting a $10,000 motorcycle to be raffled off with $20 tickets at the festival.

Greg Mack said $50,000 had already been raised for the 2003 festival. Also, he said last year the Web site — www.bikesbluesandbbq.org — had only about 500 hits a day leading up to the event. This year, it’s averaging about 3,000 hits a day four months away, Mack said.

All of the vendors from the 2002 Bikes Blues & BBQ are either returning or have been asked to return. And Mack said that all taxes will be collected onsite as well as each vendor paying an additional 5 percent of their gross that will go to the Council on Aging.