Hawgstock 2007

   the True Spirit of bikers

August 2008

Best known for actually housing the covered “bridges of Madison County,” Winterset, Iowa is a lush, green gathering of hills and beautiful country located just southwest of Des Moines, Iowa.

2007 was a particularly rainy year.  Huge buckets of rain poured down on the little town of Winterset, and the Hawgstock motorcycle rally.  The land where the Hawgstock rally comes to life each year literally had a river running through it. 

Yet Chief and Cat Taylor, co-founders of Hawgstock, pressed on.  People were still ordering tickets.  Thousands of dollars had been invested.  Just a day before the rally was to start there seemed no end to this rain.  The Taylors vascillated as to whether or not they might be better off cancelling this year’s rally.  But around the table with some of their closest friends (aka, the Hawgstock staff), they decided to take a chance and tentatively move forward with the rally. 

Yours truly was there because these good people have donated space for our Q & A LIVE booth.  Since vendors are required to be set up the night before the rally, and it was way too rainy to put up my tent, the Taylors opened their home to me.  Not only was this a kind, humane gesture, but it also gave me a bird’s eye view of the dedication, loyalty, hard work, and unity of the Hawgstock crew.  Despite a week straight of hard rains, they pulled off a HUGELY succesful – their 3^rd annual – Hawgstock rally. 

TOP O' THE PAGE

There was some hope of a respite from the storms.  The sun tried to peek out from behind the clouds, and the water slowly drained away leaving a field of mud: thick enough and wet enough to pull your boots off for ya.

Having decided to move forward, and the phone constantly ringing from potential party-goers for the rally, Hawgstock had some pump trucks, sump pumps, and several truckloads of wood chips and straw hauled in, which only seemed to get absorbed by the mud just as quickly as they put it down.

Thursday – opening day – arrived, and despite a light rain hanging on, they came: on bikes, in cages, and a few campers.  Party goers were ready for another great Hawgstock rally.

Because they provide a waterslide (aka, the Boob Tube), pool, and a shower stage, a recurring theme for the Hawgstock rally is “Wet Enough?”  Sexual innuendo aside, I’d say this is one year we could all have answered with a resounding YEA! ... puh-lenty ... alright already!  So, pulling off this year’s rally was going to be no easy feat.  Party goers were coming through the line in record numbers, while a few of the vendors that had contracted with them either cancelled or simply didn’t show.

And so it was, that from under an understandably furrowed brow, Chief – having discussed it with his wife and business partner, the ever-beautiful Cat – announced to the crew a final decision: “we’re moving forward with the rally.  If we take a loss, we take a loss, but people are depending on us.”

The vendors that did honor their commitment worked hard – surrounded by step-sucking mud – but did a great job, and I speculate, turned a pretty good profit.  All the bands and entertainment showed up, and performed like the troopers they are.  Well ... except for the Thursday night band, that was raring to go, but was forced to quickly tear down due to some hideous thunder and lightening. 

I dutifully staffed the Hep C Straightup booth.  Having lost a few volunteers myself, I was working solo, but it was cool, cuz not a WHOLE lot of people are thrilled to come talk about disease at a party, but especially not if they have to first cross a sea of mud to do so. 

But that was alright.  I had just about the best venue for people watching one could hope for.  And a few folks did come by: some to get out of the rain, and some to chit chat. 

Like this awesome couple. 

The wife here had hep C, did treatment and cleared, but still went to ESLD (end-stage liver disease).  She needed a transplant.  Here damn near a year later I can’t remember exactly why, but waiting around for a cadaveric donor wasn’t gonna cut it (no pun intended).  So the husband volunteered for, and passed all the requisite tests to become her living donor.  Obviously from this photo here, everything’s still going well.  She got part of his liver, a new chance at life, and he got her beautiful face tattooed on his chest.  They told me, “so we have a little part of each other with us all the time.”  Damn ... now that’s straight up!

Then there’s my new friends Mary and Pat.  They’re just some down-to-earth, fun-loving people who wanted to hang out under part of my tent.  Turns out Mary’s a nurse, and they helped me staff the booth and keep me in stitches (the funny, ha-ha kind) all weekend.  We had a pretty good time, and I look forward to having them back this year. 

Ya know, I wanna say that Hawgstock 2007 was nothing short of a miracle ... but that would be selling these good people WAY short.  The crew pulled together – like only true bikers do – and worked their asses off.

People were great to each other: helping each other get bikes outta the mud, giving rides, sharing tarps, canopies and umbrellas, and helping each other walk through a sea of mud.  There were no apparent horrible dramas or injuries, just a sea of people partying together, making friends, and helping out when they could.  A great time was had by just about every body. 

It was almost reminiscent of a music festival for whom this rally is, in part, named.  But the bottom line: this rally is one put together, held together, and continues to bring us together, as a result of the true spirit of bikers.

TOP O' THE PAGE

Wanna Link
           to us?