from the Far East.... Motorcyco Beau of Ontario that is! The 5th Annual Ottawa International Motorcycle Show Well there were two new attractions at the 5 th Ottawa International Motorcycle Show this year, the fi rst one was the participation of The Riders Mag and the eastern Ontario crew and then secondly, the guest appearance throughout the whole weekend of two of the cast members of the hit television show, Sons Of Anarchy. Actors Tommy Flanagan aka “Chibs Telford” & Canadian actor Kim Coates aka “Tig Trager” made themselves available to thousands of fans for autographs & pictures as well there was a $125.00 per person “meet & greet” dinner on the Saturday night and a $95.00 a person Sunday morning brunch. This year’s show was considerably larger from that of previous years and it now featured a $20 admission charge which included free parking and there was lots of musical entertainment throughout the show, a number of tattoo artists and of course the ever popular fashion show. One of those bands performing was the Indelible Shameless Blues Band which features “Gardog” Blair Gardiner, who is not only the lead vocalist/harp player for the band but also a well known member of the local biker community and a personal friend of ours. If I am not mistaken, Blair handled much of the sound work for many of the other bands that also played over the weekend and the ISB band is always looking for opportunities to provide kick ass music for any bike/motorcycle functions that are considering a band to play for their function. It took a couple of hours to get the booth for the Mag set up and I am grateful to all my “Brothers” who kindly helped make it happen because as often happens at any show I had to wander around the building trying to fi nd out where to get the passes etc and it doesn’t seem to matter what show it is, the ritual of trying to fi nd out the people you need to fi nd, will take time and that you should never believe the signs posted. The one positive part of my “walk-abouts” is that I get to see who is participating in the show and fi nd a little free time to just catch up on the gossip from some of the other exhibitors because once those doors open to the public it will be near impossible to chat again and at the end of a show everyone has the same focus, get everything loaded and to get freaking home. There were quite a few new exhibitors and compared to say two years ago, this show has just about doubled in size. The OIMS while mostly a dealer-type venue up to now, is defi nitely trying to become known for custom bikes and the number of custom motorcycles at the show was larger and more area was provided for them than years previously. While I was making my tour I had the pleasure of meeting up with a very long time friend Trapper, the man responsible for the creation of the 1st CAV motorcycle club that consists of past and present military personnel as well as those who are strong supporters of the military. He and some of the boys had put up an info booth for the 1st CAV so they could introduce themselves to the motorcycle public and promote rides & events that are supported by them and honor vets and their service to our country. On every issue of The Riders Mag you will fi nd the words “We Support Our Troops!!!” and We Mean It. During that same walk I had a moment to chat with, John Hubbard, a man who is very well known in the Ottawa motorcycle community after all the years of being the general manager of H-D Ottawa and now being the general manager for Wheelsport, situated in Ottawa’s east end. Another real plus was that I got to do a bit of catching up with the Chrome Diva herself, the “Lovely” Danni, who from the Far East.... Motorcyco Beau of Ontario that is! contributes articles to the Riders Mag on many occasions and she and her crew were setting up her booth for the support of prostate cancer survivors and research and most of all Danni is a spokesperson for women who ride which is obvious by the banner in her booth that says “A Girl’s Gotta Ride”. Somehow when I see women riding their own motorcycles and participating in the many events happening over the season it makes me feel truly proud to be part of the Biker community. Beside our booth was an exhibit for Teen Challenge, an organization that devotes itself to young people dealing with trying to overcome addiction and over the weekend I had several opportunities to talk with the folks that manned the booth. I doubt it is possible for anyone to exist where the issue of youth addiction has not had some kind of infl uence in their personal lives whether it is one of their immediate family members or someone they know in the community where they live. I always try to show support for groups that work towards helping people overcome their addictions. Across from our setup was the display area for one of the largest metric dealerships in the area, Ottawa Goodtime Centre and a considerable part of the display was made up of their metric cruiser lines and they have become quite well known for the lines of custom parts & accessories that they carry giving metric cruiser owners the opportunity to “create” their own individual ride. The show had a large number of information booths on site for the riding community to check out and one of those was a booth for the City of Ottawa where I had a chance to talk to both Rob Wilkinson from the City and Josee Bessonette, from the Ministry of Transport both of whom have been very supportive about the month of May being Motorcycle Awareness Month and which both The Riders Mag and The Celtic Brotherhood have been active participants as executive members of S.O.A.R (Society of Ottawa Area Riders) and just recently we have learned the Minister of Transport, Glen Murray, is apparently going to make the campaign province wide. During most of the show Mike Bossio, who not only is one of the founders of S.O.A.R. but also a member of the Celtic Brotherhood shared duties between both the City booth & The Riders Mag booth. Many of you will know “Bozz” as the owner of Boss Auto and I am always reminding people to try as much as possible to support businesses that support the motorcycle community and especially those that help support The Riders Mag with advertising because they make it possible for us to print and reach out to all of you and keep you informed and we are honored to do it. I had been hoping that Peri & Tim, from B.A. Machine would be able to have a booth at the show but with their recent expansion and the workload that they are experiencing, passed on it but most likely will take part next year’s show. It is good to see them back in business and doing so well. Their expertise in working and building Harleys is top-notch and I always like to support quality independents because the more choices the riding public have is what sets the bar high for all shops to do quality work. Like I said earlier, this show is working to develop a larger custom motorcycle component to it and while there was a small contingency of custom bikes there, they were great looking bikes and I recognized several of them from taking part in the Toronto show in early January so word is spreading out about the Ottawa show and hopefully next year will draw many more custom bikes & their builders to this show. I was blown away by all the excitement that the participation of the actors from the Sons of Anarchy created during the weekend at different times. There were massive lineups that spread out over several aisles with all kinds of people waiting to either get their pictures taken with the actors or get autographs. I heard varying quotes on what it cost for the opportunity and was blown away by what some folks asked to have signed such as shirts, patches, programs and pictures and including one very attractive young lady who had the upper part of her chest signed by both actors and another person who we know personally and is a good friend and a serious biker, he had them sign both his shoulders and then went over to one of the several tattoo booths at the show and had the signatures tattooed on. Hey! Different strokes for different folks! Now while these two guys were making money doing this, you had to feel some sympathy for them because they were from the Far East.... Motorcyco Beau of Ontario that is! being wrangled here, there, everywhere and I am betting they must have been asked the same questions a million times. At one point as they were being hustled over to the Harley dealers compound, Tommy Flanagan, aka “Chibs” noticed some of the brothers wearing green helping hand out copies of the Mag and he came over to The Riders Mag booth to say hello commenting that “Now here are my kind of Peeps!” Next thing I know people were taking pictures of him with Smokey’s wife, Donna & myself. Great guy to chat with for a hurried second but I asked if he could come by later and meet some of the other guys who were helping out at the booth and sure enough he did, at which time we gave him copies of The Riders Mag to take with him along with support shirts for The Celtic Brotherhood and patches and a Riders Mag support shirt. Now you let me know if you ever see him wearing any of them on some show and I certainly hope the copies of the Mag gave him will give him and his buddy something to do while they were fl ying off to their next hectic gig. Like our new motto on the banner on the bottom of the Mag cover says “Ontario and Beyond! At one point in all the activity I got to stop by and visit Jennifer Marsh and all the lovely ladies at the Motor Maids booth. Great ladies and hard-core riders and keep in mind that the Motor Maids is one of the oldest motorcycle clubs in North America and I think they were established in 1940 and one of them who is a close friend of ours, the “lovely” Nancy, put on over 100,000 kms last year alone, like I said, hard core riders. In the aisle just behind us we found Lurch & Waldo helping out a booth called All Purpose Towing, where aside from towing, they are also starting to sell pre-owned Harleys much like Classy Chassis & Cycles who also were there with a dynamite display. Big Rig Beer was set up at the show, and while they had some snacks for people to buy if they were hungry, it appeared they were far more popular for the glasses of beer they were selling, Gee! Go fi gure! Went by the Capital City Bikers Church Booth and had a visit with Hillbilly, Scott and of course the “lovely” Nelia, the Capital City Bikers Church does a lot of great things in the community and Hillbilly was telling me that he would like to start up the Motorcycle Appreciation Day they used to have and which many bikers including myself really looked forward to every August, but he says he is looking for a different venue, something still in the city but with grass instead of being all pavement. If you can think of anywhere or you have a good location, let him know, the CCBC deserves a little payback from the community they help out. The group Wounded Warriors also had a booth set up and they were promoting a a ride they are having on May 10 th starting out of Stittsville and it will be dedicated to Disabled Vets so I will keep you folks posted. There were two rider safety displays, one was the Ottawa Safety Council and the other one was the Rider Training Institute and was manned by a good friend of ours, Keith Fong along with the help of a attractive young lady. A local radio station The Bear 106.9 fm did a remote from the show and handled the public service announcements and just over from them was Riders Plus insurance which was the main sponsor of the show. I also had the opportunity to talk with some of the ladies from a local riding club called the Wind Sisters and in particular to Flasher aka Linda and the ever so lovely, Denise Nicholson and after that I headed back to our booth where I just made it in time to say hello to an old friend, Dan Allaston who is the owner of New Moon Tattoo Studios, one being in the west end of Ottawa and the other out in Orleans and Dan is responsible for much of the work on my both arms over the couple of decades. Well that is about it for the Ottawa Show, the feedback from the public from the Far East.... Motorcyco Beau of Ontario that is! was that they really enjoyed it and with the exception of comments that many wished the aisles had been carpeted because the cement fl oors really tired them out while walking around and perhaps there not enough food, it appears to be a success. I know that we were bombarded with compliments on not only how The Riders Mag booth looked but the real prize was the compliments on all my Brothers, helping out and how friendly they were to everyone. Even some of the show management complimented us on our reception by the public and how we added to the show. It was all worthwhile. The fi nal treat whatever Brothers were left at the end of the show was Tommy Flanagan dropping by one more time and getting his picture with some of the Brothers and the ladies who helped us out. Pretty nice guy considering I am not easy to impress...must be because he is Celtic! As always..” We Make Our Biker/Motorcycle Communities Stronger...By Making Them Better!”.... Brotherhood! Motorcyco Beau! [email protected]