By Lulu

One of our favorite weekend rallies is on the banks of the Cotee River in downtown New Port Richey. Three stages, vendors, great music, a beautiful park setting, streets closed to motorcycles, then throw in a bikini contest (this year in an old theater) and a bike show hosted by Minh from Venom Cycles, what more could you ask for. Well in this instance a lot more! The Fire & Iron MC hosts a poker run on Saturday morning out of the H-D of New Port Richey to raise money for a children’s burn victims camp. Nothing better than combining fun with helping others! Cotee River Bike Fest usually occurs in the fall, but due to Hurricane Helene ravaging the west coast of Florida, they had to make a decision that anyone who has put so much effort into organizing hates to call. They rescheduled it! That means the bands, the vendors, the logistical team, the poker run…all of it has to be reworked! Well Tina & Steve Farrell and their crew pulled it off and the show went on mid-January without a hitch! They got lucky most of the weekend. It really didn’t rain much until the last day, although rain was projected for the weekend.

One of the reasons we love this event is since the first one we attended we got to be friends with Tim Fussell and his crew at Little Corona Cigar Bar. That is our home base while we are in town. We love those guys! The music at the rally in January was outstanding with Bearded Brothers, Jasmine Caine, Bobby Friss, Signs of Sacrifice, Scream Machine, Hypersona, The Wicked Serenity, Dirty White Boys, Powerhouse 2.0, Disaster Piece, Plush Velvet, Remnants Alter, Supply Chain, Alter Ego, Jack Knife, All Jacked Up and one of my personal favorites The Hair of the Dog. I have confirmation that they are going to move it back to October so join us in New Port Richey, although the date hasn’t been set at print time. More photos of the weekend are on Thunder Roads Florida Facebook. A special thank you to Fran Haasch law firm, The Kangaroo, the City of New Port Richey, Harley-Davidson of New Port Richey, Monster Energy, Brown & Brown Insurance, Doran, Beam & Farrell law firm and Team Farrell.