Biker Trash Nation's Camel City Bikefest 4.0

By: Lincoln InfieldPhotos By: Lincoln & Maggie Infield

Winston-Salem has a pretty chill downtown.

Eclectic storefronts keep locals and visitors busy with high end eats, art, and naturally, craft beer. There is a lot going on in Downtown Winston-Salem, but on September 7 Biker Trash Nation owned the downtown area. Liberty Street, between MLK Jr. Dr. and 7th St was the destination of Biker Trash from all over the Carolinas and beyond. Wayne Pinnix, President of Biker Trash Nation had a goal, to create an event that bikers of all creed, color, make and model could congregate at and have a good old fashioned Biker street party and with the help of First Lady, Vandee, and a host of sponsors and loyal biker trash, the dream was realized.

Big Wheel Baggers Waiting To Be Judged in Radical Randy's Bggerz & Tailz Custom Bike Show

Vendor load in was Saturday morning and just as soon as the streets were cleared, they began to fill up with chrome. It was apparent very early on in the day that this was going to be a real barn burner. The two blocks of Liberty St. were lined with vendors hawking jewelry, custom motorcycle parts, cigars, pinstiping, custom paint jobs, apparel, custom motorcycles and everything you could imagine.

The 6th street intersection was the center of the promenade and was home to Radical Randy’s Baggerz and Tailz bike show and sound competition. Radical Randy is a real pro and does a hell of a job putting on a bike show. He puts on world class bike shows up and down the south east. Show bike owners are obviously aware of this and the caliber of bikes that showed up were jaw dropping. Big wheels, tail draggers, baggers, choppers and everything in between rolled in dripping with chrome and custom paint were lining the streets waiting to be judged in hopes of taking home top honors.

Jukebox Rehab holding down the live music stage.

The Tom McGrath’s Motorcycle Law Group sponsored the band stage that was situated at the top of the rally area where SmasHat got the party started and set a pretty high standard for the 3 other bands going on later in the day. Jukebox Revival

was up next, followed by Sok Monkey all warming the stage up for National Recording Artists Eve To Adam to bring the house down.

In between music sets, Lady V took the stage to kick off the Pin Up contest that has become a real staple of Camel City Bikefest. at least a dozen beauties took the stage one by one to be introduced by Wayne and give out a little information on themselves. The girls all gave fun facts about themselves and I thought it was particularly interesting that a number of the ladies had some hands on vocations like welding and mechanics, really giving the contestants worthy credentials. These ladies weren’t just putting on a show, they were living the pinup life! The judges really had a tough job this afternoon, but after careful deliberation, Sara Smith was named Ms. Camel City with Jessica Lory and Sammi Trusler bringing in 2nd and 3rd place respectively.

The Finalist of Lady V's Pinup Contest

Directly after the Pinup Contest, Radical Randy started handing out the awards for the Baggerz and Tailz Bike Show. Randy does it up right and has plaques and big trophies to call out all the winners and grand champions. As mentioned before, this was no easy task as the street was lined with show bikes that came to bring home some hardware. When all was said and done Mike Meaut of Sothern Boy Baggerz took home

the best in show trophy for his wild bagger. I had shot some pictures of this bike earlier in the day and admired it’s hot orange custom paint and all the bits and pieces that made it a champion, congrats Mike!

Bike Show Winners Group Shot

The street were still packed with bikers and even though it was a hot day, the party showed no hesitation. it was a who’s who party and I couldn’t make it a few feet without running into another pack of friends. Honestly, I was trying to get up and down the street all day long but spent most of my time only feet from the Carolinas’ Full Throttle Magazine tent shooting the shit with friends as they passed by. I did

get a chance to stop in and talk to Ray Spencer of Universal Customs who was laying down some sweet pinstripes on a black sporty, He was next door to world class painter Jody Goodwill of SRM Paintworks who has had his artwork propel some awesome builds to even higher fame. Custom bike builders like Back Yard Baggerz and Twin City Customs were on hand with some eye candy on display. Smokin’ Harley-Davidson is a big sponsor of the Camel City Bikefest and they had a double tent set up doing some giveaways and showing off the newly unveiled Harley-Davidson Iron-e electric bicycles. It’s always good to stop in and see Brother Bill and his crew working the Smokin’ tent. Tom McGrath’s Motorcycle Law Group (The Firm The Rides) was set up and manned by Tyler Styles his wife Bailey and the McGrath Law crew. Zach and Kristin of The Rebel Spirit were set up as well, showing off their custom bike parts, helmet bows and foosball skills. For those who were thirsty on this hot day, you didn’t have to go far to run into a beer tub. There were also a few local bars set up to make sure that those who enjoyed liquor drinks got the hook up as well. Baggerz Saloon, Pine Tree Tavern and Double D’s were all set up taking wetting whistles from one end of the event to the other.

As the day went on, Maggie and I stopped in to grab a bite

to eat with the Rebel Spirit crew at Camel City BBQ who is also a big sponsor and sit at the center of the bike fest. Let me tell you something, they really had it going on with 2 stories of cold beer and great food. They even have an arcade to hang out in. We got done with our meal in time to rock out with Eve To Adam and bring the rally to a close.

It was a really long day, but it went by so quick. The party was steady all day and I have to say that Wayne and Vandee really provided Biker Trash Nation with an epic event. There is an unbelievable amount of work that goes into coordinating and putting on events of this magnitude. Wayne and Vandee pulled off their 4th such event without a hitch and made it look easy. Wayne wanted to make sure that all his sponsors know how much he appreciated them throwing in and helping make sure that Camel City Bikefest 4.0 was a success. So cheers to: Tom McGrath’s Motorcycle Law Group, Baggerz Saloon, Camel City BBQ, MW Carriers, Breaktime Billiards, Back Yard Baggers, Faceless Mayhem Productions, and Pinetree Tavern. Wayne and Vandee also gave high accolades to their friend Arnita Miles, who was instrumental in the past few Bikefests. Naturally they also wanted to thank all the Biker Trash that came out to party and make the Camel City Bikefest 4.0 a triumphant return to downtown Winston-Salem.

Make sure to check out the Carolinas’ Full Throttle Magazine Crusin’ Calendar for next year’s Camel City 5.0, you do NOT want to miss out on this downtown bash!