Fayetteville's Bikes, Blues and BBQ handed out nearly $100,000 to local charities Friday at a special banquet in Fayetteville’s Town Center.
Organizers said Friday’s event was a celebration and a chance to thank sponsors, along with the many volunteers that make the annual motorcycle rally a success.
Bikes, Blues and BBQ officials also took the occasion to hand out a lot of money to charities throughout the area.
The largest single donation was $20,000 to the Fayetteville Boys and Girls Clubs. Twenty-eight organizations received $1,000, $2,000 or $5,000 each.
Bikes, Blues and BBQ may have started small, but it has grown steadily throughout the years, since its inception 13 years ago.
"In the world of festivals and motorcycle rallies, we are an anomaly. Things like this don't happen,” said Joe Giles, executive director of the rally. “You don't have the exponential growth we've had with Bikes, Blues and BBQ anywhere nationwide. No one could have ever predicted this.”
While Giles believes nobody could have predicted the motorcycle rally would be such a huge success, he made a prediction Friday night that charities are guaranteed to like.
"All the charities are so deserving, we wish we could give them more,” Giles said. “And next year, we're going to."
The volunteers at the charity banquet said it takes a lot of work to put on the event, but it is a labor of love that they look forward to every year.
About 8 months away, the next Bikes, Blues and BBQ rally runs the weekend of Sept. 18.