Bikes & Blues a hit

Below is advance of an article for Sunday's paper.

The downtown bikes and blues event was clearly a hit, drawing thousands and striking a good balance between motorheads and soccer moms.

Expect this thing to keep growing in coming years.

SAN BERNARDINO -- The low roar - rumbling, guttural - of horsepower-packed motorcycles was familiar.

But the reaction was new.

Instead of the chaos-inducing 1960s and 1970s, when renegade motorcycle gangs haunted California lore, Saturday's reception reflected how passe the image of motorcyclists as grease-splattered, leather-clad pirates of the highway has become.

"It's just a wonderful atmosphere," said Shohnii Marston, her 10-year-old son Gavin at her side. "We'll be back next year."

The second and final day of the Berdoo Bikes & Blues Rendezvous, a first-year event aimed at tapping into the city's culture of rollicking music and beefy engines, drew thousands of visitors and motorcycles, creating a curious downtown spectacle that would have seemed impossible just a generation ago.

Hot weather combined with rumbling engines and bluesy live music on stages in front of City Hall and at Meadowbrook Park. Children nearly outnumbered graying, leathery bikers, and the event struck a solid balance between gearheads and car-driving families, said Wayne Austin, president and CEO of the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau.
"The vendors are really thrilled with the crowd," Austin said. "The feedback all-around has been phenomenal."

Vintage motorcycles lined Arrowhead Avenue, in front of the Superior Courthouse where bikers of yesteryear went only under orders, not for fun.

The hot, mad Santa Ana Winds and the marauding San Bernardino County bikers described by Joan Didion and other writers of yesteryear lived in just faintest of spirits Saturday, replaced by nostalgia, shopping and wide-eyed curiosity.

"San Bernardino knows how to host a motor event," said Carl Barnes, while tending to a Wild West BBQ's tri-tip grill, one of the hottest lunchtime draws. "I'm shocked by how good, and big, the crowd is."