RIP The Horse Smoke Out 2000-2017

The Horse will not be doing The Horse Smoke Out this year. Yes, it’s true. There will be no Smoke Out for The Horse in 2018. That will change in 2019, but for this year, it ain’t happening. Why? First let’s follow the history of the event.

Hammer

The first Smoky Mountain Smoke Out was in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It was not well planned, in fact, it was almost a non-event. Fifty tried and true faithfuls showed up that weekend. We stayed at the Day’s Inn, surrounded by police the entire time. We must have looked threatening, if you can believe that. We ran over to my friend’s Subway in Newport, Tennessee and had a great lunch. That evening we had a bike show. I remember one guy pulled out a show bike from the back of his trailer. Everyone made fun of him but I felt bad for him. Sure, it wasn’t Horse material, but he came to support us and I appreciated that. Unfortunately, his bike wouldn’t start which fueled the rage of the other 49, causing the guy to leave in embarrassment. Like I said, it was not that way I wanted to treat a supporter but it happened.

Next year Edge picked it up and we had The Smoky Mountain Smoke Out in Cherokee, North Carolina. Nothing worked as the event was a failure. A few people showed up but once the band played at 6pm, I counted five people at the stage. Still, we were learning.

That same year we were at Cherokee, we had a bike show at The Last Resort in Florida during Biketoberfest. It was then that Flat Black was formed and The Horse, Edge and Kathy became members in the company that would put on The Smoke Out. The next event was shortened to “The Smoke Out” and was held in Salisbury, North Carolina at the Rowan County Fair grounds. It erupted into the biggest, most talked about chopper event ever. It was the perfect storm. The next few years saw people coming all the way from Japan, Vibes Magazine with Yass doing a feature; Wild Magazine from France and almost every European country had someone there, with Australia and South America present as well. It was “the” international event across the globe. To say it was magical would be an understatement. Billy, Paul Cox, Indian Larry, Chica, Warren Lane, Goth Girl, you name them, they were there. It made Hollister look like an Easyriders Rodeo. The police were part of the action, not part of the problem like most are.

The Salisbury event lasted for several years then the forces of evil surfaced. First, the Holiday Inn started charging five times the regular rate with a minimum stay plus charging $5.00 to enter in the parking lot if you were not a guest. Greed was killing the event. Then the bible-toting council members, both of them, moved to oust the diabolical Smoke Out from their virgin city. It didn’t matter, we had decided to move anyway. So we did.

Next stop was Farmington, North Carolina. Only one year there. The cops were incredibly over zealous and paranoid. Hundreds of combat-ready cops formed a perimeter around the event, locking arms like guys at a gay rights parade. All it would have taken was one to feel threatened and they would have opened fire on all of us. They were an immediate threat to law and order, so we left.

Now Rockingham became home. Nice venue, great drag strip, plenty of camping and more room than we would ever need. And the faithful came, as did the complaints. The nearest sign of civilization was at least 20 miles away. If you didn’t camp out, then you either didn’t drink or you didn’t ride your bike. At first, the attendance was decent, peaking on Saturday around 2pm. Activities were “okay,” but lean. There was bull riding for the girls, one year the Wall of Death and the wet t-shirt contest was smokin’ hot. Then it started to fade.

Attendance started to slack off. Last year, 2017, at 2pm on Saturday, the place was nearly empty. Vendors complained that not only did they have to pay for vendor space, but had to buy a ticket on top of that. Admission fee is high, highest of any event. That complaint was constant. Then activities dwindled. The yearly chaos on stage only got worse. Bands would use the stage whenever they felt like it to tune up, bumping bona fide acts off scheduled time slots. People noticed. Vendors complained they weren’t selling anything at all. Food vendors said the same thing, and as the years went by, fewer and fewer food vendors set up. I counted two, maybe three last year.

Last year, 2017, was without a doubt the best The Horse Smoke Out that had been put together in years in terms of activities and things to do. The Horse added The Cherry Bomb Girls (who were not allowed to perform their two sets a night as scheduled and were bumped off stage by the band so they could tune up, much to the dismay of the sparse crowd). The Horse also added the Royal Enfield competition, the paint competition, many more vendors, the Pro Chop Off Builder, ACO, ride in show and brought in major sponsors who were ignored. Attendance was way down due to the year prior, not to mention the threat of thunderstorms which never came. But the promise of a better event was short-lived; the majority shareholders want less activities, less things to do and still charge the high price to see and do less.

When we started The Horse Smoke Out, it was a chopper event. Now instead of focusing on choppers, there are prizes for bolt-ons to Road Kings. Instead of it being an international event, it’s regional with the majority coming from North Carolina and South Carolina. The chaos is so bad that one year the wrong Pro Chop Off Builder winner was announced. That gross error in ballot counting was never corrected so the wrong winner hangs on to the trophy while the true winner was left out of his chance to take pride as winner. While the faithful pay the high price to attend, others are being paid to attend, to give it the appearance of wide popularity. The cops insist on running their patrol cars into the crowd every year, even after being told not to drive into the crowd because they may kill someone. They don’t care; their lazy assess refuse to walk like everyone else. They present a clear and present danger to every attendee. That’s not what The Smoky Mountain Smoke Out was about.

When the Smoke Out is not The Horse Smoke Out any longer, it’s time to leave Dodge and make The Horse Smoke Out great again. So The Horse will not be putting on The Horse Smoke Out this year or going forward.