The Queens Together Motorcycle Festival and Stunt Show
This past Saturday saw a portion of Salisbury Street closed off for the Queens Together National Motorcycle Club 7th Anniversary Reunion. It was a two day event in total, but the part I attended (Saturday afternoon) was a stunt show, festival, and showcase of tricked out motorcycles. The music, dancing, artwork, and various booths added a welcome splash of culture to a part of Raleigh that is usually quiet on weekends.
Best in Show
The first part I noticed was the contest for best tricked out bike. There were categories for chopper, harley, sport bike, etc. I think the Green Mile bike was my favorite in the trophy contest.
The Music
DJ Storm laid down the tracks that had the crowds dancing in between the parade and stunt shows.
Busting out a few moves before the stunt show
The view from the DJ booth
The Stunt Show
As one may expect, the stunt part was the most exciting part of the event. I saw the three stunt drivers pulling off tricks I didn’t think were possible on two wheels.
Motorcycle Art
I spent the most time admiring the creative and often breathtaking works of art on the side of various bikes. From humorous, to symbolic, to the simply beautiful, many owners make their mode of transportation a creative extension of their personality; not unlike the late Sho Nuff.
The Circus Sideshow
I don’t know for certain, but I believe the Convention Center had a crowd of circus performers for another event. A couple of them ventured into the festival outside and entertained the attendees.
Faces of the Crowd
“Boop”, so named for her bike and matching helmet. Had I been a judge, she would have won a best in show award.
Above is Dionne, founder of Urban Burnout Magazine, operating a vendor booth at the show.
Daryl is from Connecticut, shown here with his ’05 Harley with a one of a kind saddle.
“Black”, who owns an absolutely stunning black bike.
Into the Night
This was a two day event, with each day promising activities and entertainment late into the night. The area of Fayetteville Street around City Plaza was packed with bikes and revelers.
Now after experiencing the festival, I really want a motorcycle.
A description of the event from the flyer:
Raleigh is a city on the edge of everything new and hip and so is the QT’s 7th Anniversary; plenty of excitement, entertainment and fun. As you know southern hospitality is all the charm of the south so while you are here, relax, release, chill and enjoy!
Further Reading:
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS feed
Subscribe to posts by Email
Sign up for the Newsletter
04/06/2010
John – it was nice to meet you on Saturday. Thanks so much for stopping by the Urban Burnout booth and including us in your blog. This was indeed a very fun-filled, packed event…hope to see you at the next one!
Dionne
04/06/2010
Hello John and Good Night Raleigh Readers!
My name is Patrice “Treecey QT” Johnson. I am Public Relations Officer for Queens Togehter. Thank you for the beautiful coverage of our event. It was a lot of planning and preperation involved prior to and during so we don’t get to see what others do. The event Theme changes each year. This year was “Arabian Nights.” So the Circus sideshow lol was actually apart of our event. As in ancient Arabian times fire dancers, snake charmers and jugglers entertained royalty. The event was in the Marriott City Center friday & Raleigh Convention Center on Saturday. Of course Saturday was Salisbury Street. We do all of this to celebrate our founders day as well as to raise funds for Interact Battered Women’s Shelter. It is an annual event and always the first weekend in April. Again thank you for the wonderful words! Please feel free to contact me.
Treecey
04/07/2010
Hi John,
Wonderful write up for a positive event that imo hasn’t received as much publicity as it deserves.
The QT’s get many kudos from me for this event. I appreciate them investing in our community by raising money for the charitable organization INTERACT, and by bringing many people from diverse walks of life together here in Raleigh with a message of harmony & service.
The event was amazing, and literally on fire!
As Treecey QT said the fire dancers were part of the QT event, although I am not sure who the stilt/juggler man is. I am one of the fire dancers who performed as the ‘half-time’ event at the stunt show & also lat night in the convention center.
I am wondering if you have any photos of us actually burning fire in the street during the day. I appreciate you mentioning us here too.
Thanks,
Meghan
04/07/2010
Hello John,
I’m Foxy~QT, Vice President of QTMC, and want to say thank you soo much for your coverage as its always exciting to see the variations of what our patrons capture from our event production. Although we have hands on deck with planning we truly don’t always get to see the output of the hard work that it takes to set things up, so again thanks for sharing and be blessed..
04/07/2010
And it was especially awesome how, since the tire marks from last years’ event were almost gone, they left Salisbury Street looking like a freshly used NASCAR track, so anyone visiting our nice new convention center would be sure to see how Raleigh drivers use the roads around here! At least the stunt show was very safe, keeping a wide 10-foot distance between the bikes and spectators. There’s no way a stuck throttle would have jumped over or knocked down those solid fences and killed several spectators.
I loved the “splash of culture” at every street downtown, where tricked out motorcycles showed the traffic signals, speed limits, no parking signs, and noise ordinances only applied to the uncultured cage drivers. I mean, owning a tricked out motorcycle is pretty much carte blanche to park anywhere and drive any way your bike is capable of, right?
I can’t wait until next year!