Bikes, Babes & Bling coming to Fayetteville in July, 2010

If you’re a fan of the annual Bikes, Blues & BBQ rally on Dickson St., you probably popped a wheelie at last week’s announcement that a sister rally called Bikes, Babes and Bling is coming to Fayetteville for the first time next year.

If you’re not a fan, there’s probably smoke coming from your ears.

Either way, the Fayetteville A&P awarded $20,000 to the fledgeling rally last week which is scheduled to roll into town July 15-17, 2010. Update: Bikes, Babes & Bling has been moved to July 1-3.

Like Bikes, Blues and BBQ, the new rally will be a non-profit event. Organizers are hoping that the festival will raise money for local charities that aid women and children, and that it will attract tourists to town during a slow summer season.

“We believe this will provide a significant impact to Fayetteville by bringing visitors into the area that will stay in our hotels and enjoy our restaurants during what would normally be a slow time of the year,” said Coleson Burns, Event Director for Bikes, Babes & Bling in a press release.

Bikes, Babes & Bling is said to be the South’s first motorcycle rally that caters specifically to women riders. There is another women’s rally called The Mid-Atlantic Women’s Motorcycle Rally held annually in Crownsville, Maryland that raises money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

“This is an exciting new endeavor for Bikes, Blues & BBQ. In the past five years, there has been significant growth – approximately 35% – in the market of female motorcycle riders. Since the majority of the nation’s rallies are tailored for the male biker, we feel that we can and should offer an experience that caters to women,” said Allyson Twiggs Dyer, board member for Bikes, Blues & BBQ, and director of the Fayetteville Visitors Bureau.

Reaction will no-doubt be mixed. In fact, Alderman Matthew Petty said today in a comment here on the Flyer that he is considering action to prevent the event from happening at all.