Shine in Lapine

by Tommy Pittard
(Calhoun Falls SC)

When I made my way to Lapine, Alabama for the Shine in Lapine Rally I was thinking this was going to be a waste of good bike tire rubber. I promised Marvin that I would be at the rally Friday morning on the fourteen until the rally ended the sixteen of May. The word was out that this was one of those old time rallies and it was something that I had to see for myself. I remember the old time bike rallies that I attended thirty years ago. You could do just about anything you wanted to do as long as you didn’t make anyone mad.
When I went through the gate one of the first things I heard over the P.A. system is that someone was about to make a beer run to town. Lisa was asking the bikers who wanted beer to come up and place their order and then give them the money. After making the beer run to the store they would bring the beer back to the gate. I like this idea because it is a great way of keeping you off your bike and out of trouble with the law. I checked in at the gate and I met Marvin Askew the promoter of the Shine in Lapine Rally.
After setting up my tent I headed out to do what I like to do at each rally. I go around and talk to the vendors. Over the years I have found out by talking to the vendors that you could find out more about a rally from them than anyone else. The vendors told me two things that they made money here in the past and of course they liked the rally. I was thinking they could have more vendors here but I believe as other vendors discover this event they will be heading to Lapine, Ala. What I could see is that there were enough different vendors from t-shirts to food vendors plus you get patches sewn on your vest while you waited. There were two food vendors that was set up at the bottom of the hill. One sold food such as hamburgers and hotdogs. The other food vender that I liked the best was P&A Concession of Graceville, FL. Eating at this concession was just like eating at a restaurant except it was outdoors. Mr. Ward and his wife have a large selection of food on hand. To my surprise the prices of the food wasn’t to bad to be off in the boon docks.
The Welcome Party started off in front of the stage by doing Jell-O shots and Mojo, a drink one of the staff came up with that is a concoction of different types of alcohol. Of course you know what the ladies had to show to get a few free drinks. That night the amazing band called Albert Simpson and the Highly Kind Band came on stage. The saying is that if the music is to loud you are to old. When the bands cranked the music up and no matter what part of the campground you were in you could hear the music. I don’t know what it is about the band playing that causes the ladies to head for the pole in front of the stage and start stripping and dancing. I liked when the band took a break and contests were held for the ladies and gentlemen. There was new contest to me that is called make your own bikini. The party ground to a halt some time after two in the morning and it was back up to full speed again by Saturday noon. I forgot to tell about the half naked ladies sliding down the hill on a wet piece of plastic.
That Saturday afternoon the rally had all the established bike games such as slow race, Ball Toss and the weenie bite contest plus a wet t-shirt contest, toilets paper and the plunger game. There was a little different version of the Thong- Pull and in the Pudding Wrestling shaving cream was used instead of pudding.
What I found a different about the judging of the bike show and the other contests is that there were no judges. The bikers in the audience would pick the winner by applause. A staff member would hold a noise meter and the contestant with the highest reading would win.
This turned out to be the wildest biker party that I have ever been to and by the time Sunday morning rolled around over 500 bikers had rode through the gate to party. I hate to say it but this is one rally that you had to be there and to experience for yourself. I haven’t enough words to describe what took place over the weekend but I do know that I will be scarred for life after what I saw. If you don’t want be scarred like me stay away. Some of the things that took place at the Shine in Lapine I could not take photos of due to just watching what was going on. It was truly an old time bikers party that I haven’t seen in thirty years. I can tell you right now I going to be the first biker in the gate next time. If you want more information on Shine in Lapine go to their web-site www.Shineinlapine.com.



Tommy Pittard
Emtharley@wctel.net