Sunday, September 23, 2007

Click on any image to enlarge it ...

Today was the 27th annual Oyster Run in Anacortes Washington. On the 4th Sunday in September about 15,000 motorcyclists converge on this town of around 12,000 good folks. Pretty much everyone’s polite and well behaved. Everybody gets along. And local businesses make a bunch of money. Here are some pictures of Bikes, Bikers, Biker Babes, Bike Art and Helmet Art.

4 out of 5 riders at the event are men and all the riders constitute an eclectic crowd. Image is important to them and most try for a specific typecast image: Old Rogue; Bad Boy; Rocket Jockey; Hooter Hottie; and so on. Many of the bikes are custom, or highly customized. Many of the bikes and helmets are custom painted. There is a lot of facial hair and tattoos. And of course there are exceptions.

While I was wandering around, I noticed a model and a photographer doing a professional photo shoot. The model attracted a lot of attention and pretty soon there was a gallery of around 50 guys with cameras all shooting pictures as fast as they could. What a hoot.

This is one you might want to enlarge ...

History of the “Oyster Run”

It all started with a few guys getting together at the end of the summer to go for a ride and eat some oysters.

Limp Lee had just returned from months of working in Alaska, He talked with the some guys and they all met at what was then the California Tavern in Marysville.

They then decided to ride along HWY 9, stop at some places along the way and end up in Everson to have oyster cocktails.

The next year a few more people joined in, the next year a few more, and by the fourth year there were almost 200 bikes. We couldn’t believe it!

Well, as the years went by there were just too many people to have an organized run up hwy 9, so Limp Lee talked to the beautiful city of Anacortes about having the run there. I think at first the town was not real hip on the idea, as they were not sure what to expect and most of the town closed up as the bikes rolled in. But soon more and more businesses stayed open and now the whole town has joined in..... and the rest is history.

As for how Limp Lee got his name, well that’s another story!

Posted by Digital Quixote in • Motorcycles
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