June Jam Bike Rally Heats Up Rowan County

30 The Carolinas’ Full Throttle MagazineJune Jam Bike Rally Heats Up Rowan County

by: lIncoln InfIeld

n June 5th, the June JaM returned to the roWan

County Fair Grounds in Salisbury to rock the motorcycle community of North Carolina. The long dormant bike rally was resurrected last year, and organizers pulled off a successful party amid all the BS that 2020 was. This year the event was going to build off of their initial success and slap on an extra layer of awesome with new biker games and a reimagined set up.

The weekend of the event brought HOT summer temps, clear skies and bikes of all kinds to Salisbury ready to Jam. Vendors were set up around the outside loop and inside a nice, air-conditioned building beside the food vendors. We’d hangout in the sun with Shannon and Dexter from Tom McGrath’s Motorcycle Law Group, go picking through the dozens of outside vendors for a while then dip back into the AC and hang out with Jay and his Jaybirds Custom Cycles crew. They had the cool old school June Jam shirts in a variety of colors set up in the building right with the Concerned Bikers Association. Dano and his crew from South Main Customs had some bikes for sale at their booth.

Once cooled back down, we hit the outside loop again. Lacie and Bobbi from the Shark Tank Bar in Salisbury had their beer tent set up and were slinging cold beer and keeping everyone hydrated. There was a bikini bike wash going on and those girls had plenty of business keeping bikes shiny and the fellas smiling. They moved the music tent back to the top of the outside loop and that is where most of the day’s action was. Fair Warning put on a hell of a show, rocking all our faces off with all the good rock hits from the last 2 decades. In between sets the stage was the site of the bikini contest followed by the wet t-shirt contest.

It sure was a hot day, and none of the girls complained about getting that ice water poured over ‘em. CBA’s Mike

Wiggins had the hard job of administering the ice water, poor guy. Nina took home $200 as the bikini contest winner and Ramona was awarded a wad of cash for the wet t-shirt contest. After the girls jiggled and giggled across the stage, they snagged their winnings and paraded a bunch of big burly guys to the stage for the beard competition. There were some healthy face mops out there and Gabby from Gabby’s

Beard Care Products gave them all a good inspection. Chad snagged 1st place with Biggie and Sleepy taking home 2nd and 3rd place respectively. They all took home some new beard products from Gabby’s to keep their beard looking good. If you couldn’t grow a beard or didn’t have the right equipment to be in the bikini competition you could still take home some cash if you had the best tattoo. A dozen or more folks paraded their ink in front of the stage in hopes of

winning. Sleepy beat out a bunch of really nice work with his half sleeve traditional Koi fish tattoo. The tattoo was 12 years old and still bright. The artists from Elysium Ink awarded him with a $200 tattoo gift certificate for his next tattoo.

Bubba and Genevia Morgan brought their bike show expertise from working the CBA Swap bike show to the June Jam and had a hell of a pile up of bikes. Mild to wild the bike show had ‘em all; custom baggers, heavy custom paint and some really sweet shovelheads were all parked in the bike show area. The show was a judged show with people’s choice awards as well, keeping the crowd involved in the show. They handed out a lot of trophies to some killer bikes, too many to keep track of!

While Fair Warning was cranking back up on the main stage, a new event was being introduced to the June Jam, the downhill barbie car races. The hill on the back area of the fairgrounds was turned into a downhill Mad Max race where participants saddle power wheel sized barbie cars of all shapes and sizes, to see who could race and rumble across the finish line first. I laughed so hard it hurt. The competition was stiff with friends calling each other out and going at it. Bubba and I had the last race of the evening and my Dale Earnhardt Jr. #8 race car spun out Bubba’s purple escalade to take home the victory. That’s racing!

The party went on into the night and started over the next day with more people games, 4-wheeler racing and more shenanigans. It was a hell of a weekend, and I can’t wait to do it again. Big props to organizer Garret Barger and the team of miscreants he put together to pull off this year’s June Jam. The event just keeps getting better and better and if ya missed this year’s event, get your head right and come out to next year’s. They are moving the event back by one week for next year, so keep your eyes on the Carolinas’ Full Throttle Magazine Cruisin’ Calendar for next year’s date. See ya there!