Photo: Clayton Taylor
The annual Bikes, Blues & BBQ motorcycle rally will take place in Rogers this year, according to a social media post from the event.
“We are proud to announce our partnership with the City of Rogers and the Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce,” the post states. “Stay tuned for more details.”
Rally events in recent years have been spread across the region, with the main stage being located off Dickson Street in the West Avenue parking lot across from the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville.
However, organizers last year announced that the main stage would need to be relocated since the parking lot off Dickson Street is set for construction of the new cultural arts corridor project.
The 2021 main stage was scheduled at Baum-Walker Stadium on the University of Arkansas campus, but was canceled after the university pulled the permits after a surge in local COVID-19 hospitalizations.
The rally’s board also canceled the event in 2020 because of the pandemic.
The 2022 event is set for Oct. 5-8, which is a little later than usual.
The rally is typically scheduled in late September when the Arkansas football team is on the road for the Southwest Classic.
Tommy Sisemore, Bikes and Blues executive director, said the later dates were chosen because the LPGA’s Northwest Arkansas Championship events will take place the last weekend in September when the rally normally occurs.
“We were worried about taxing infrastructure needs from festival electricians, to tents, not to mention increasing the burden on local hotels,” Sisemore said.
The new dates coincide with the Arkansas football road game against Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss.
