FATBOB's biker rally reviews
Bean Blossom Boogie july 2004
Bean Blossom Boogie july 2004 12 miles south of Bloomington, IN July 16-18th 2004 This is the famous Bean Blossom Boogie. The renowned ABATE Indiana's yearly biker bash. The one, the only, the famous. The overated. I've been hearing about this rally for years, so I finally decided to head on over & check it out. Alright... so I get to this rally & pull up at the gate, and stand in line to sign in. They expect you to be a member of ABATE, which should be fine as I belong to the ABATES of about 6-7 different states. Too bad for me I don't carry around all my ABATE cards. Ok, so I get told that if I ain't actually carrying my ABATE card it's $35 to get in. So I pay my fee and bring my reciept to another table... where they tell you it's going to cost $35 to get in. ''But there must be some mistake'' I said, ''I just paid. See, here's the receipt!'' ''Oh no sir'' this guy tells me, ''that was just to join ABATE Indiana. It cost's another $35 to actually get in!'' Huh! $70 just to get in? Ok, so I finally get in and the place is really spread out. They've got one main stage and 2 or 3 little sub-stages where they have a variety of bands playing (none of which I had EVER heard of). Each and every one of these stages is about a mile or two from the others. They had some chick doing standup comedy at the main stage late Saturday afternoon. I could tell she was really popular 'cuz around 400 of the 15,000 or so people that were actually at the rally showed up to watch her act. And a mechanical bull (which the odd person would ride naked on every once and a long while), and a... come on... try & guess... a ROCK CLIMBING WALL! That's right, a rock climbing wall. 'Cuz after all what's a biker rally without one? Who organised this thing anyways... Richard Simmons? They did have a biker rodeo... about 3 miles from where I was camped out. I did make it... for the last half of the last rodeo event. So I missed it. Sorry ya'll... my stubby legs can only walk so far! They did have a decent sized main stage area, and their ONE (that's right, ONE contest) was their signature ''Miss Hoosier'' event. Honestly it was the only thing the rally organisers actually did right. And not to be a complete sourpuss, it was a really good contest. Too bad they couldn't squeeze in another contest or two over the weekend. I dunno. They had a bike show, somewhere. I couldn't find it and nobody knew where it was. Oh wait, let me pull out my handy little map they gave me when I signed in. Damn, it's all the way up by the front gate, about 3 miles away! Gawd. This place needs a subway! They did have a couple of tractors giving people rides, but of course they were ALWAYS full so you end up having to walk everywhere you go. The only other good thing I liked about this rally... was the people there. All of them were real bikers, and a really good crowd. I made lots of new friends, and honestly had a pretty good time despite everything. It was the kind of rally I wished that I had just gone to for fun, not to try and cover for the site. It's more of a tailgate party than an actual biker rally. Too bad it's the same weekend as the rally in Little Sturgis, Kentucky. Which by the way is a much wilder weekend if your looking for tailgate party. And it only costs $20 to get in. ---------------------- Adults Only No children allowed. Entry : $35 + mandatory $35 ABATE subscription Camping on Site : Included B.Y.O.B. Live Bands : DUKE TUMATOE THE ECLIPSE BAND BIG AL & THE HEAVYWEIGHTS DALLAS MOORE JIMMY VAN ZANT TEQUILLA SUNRISE (EAGLES TRIBUTE) THE ROOSTERS KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD WARRANT PAT TRAVERS Contests : Miss Hoosier Best Buns contest (for men) Events Biker rodeo Food vendors on location Ice sold on location