Rally in the Valley 2 grows by the thousands, organizer says

Fresh of the heels of Rally in the Valley 2, organizer Joe “Butch” White said a new motorcycle convention for Corbin is in the works … with a few changes.
About 7,100 people attended Rally in the Valley 2, held on the Corbin Civic Center grounds last Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
“We had about 2,000 more people than last year,” White said. “That’s a big increase. I’ll take that every year.”
For anyone interested in motorcycle culture, there was always something to do this weekend.
Rally in the Valley 2 featured seven live bands, tattoo artists, leather sellers, motorcycle dealers, a “burn out” pit, dancing, the first annual “Biker Games,” and even a contest whereby the person that kissed a Suzuki Motorcycle the longest won it.
“For these things to be successful, you have to have good people to work with and something different from all the other rallies,” White said. “I’ve got the greatest crew around helping me put this together. They are all volunteers. Not a single person that helped got a dime out of this.”
A light crowd attended the event Thursday, but things picked up Friday afternoon and particularly Saturday. Already, White said he is in the planning stages for Rally in the Valley 3, but plans to make the event run Friday through Sunday.
“There are too many people working on Thursday,” White said. “On Saturday, we had a steady stream of motorcycles coming in from 10:30 a.m. until about 8:00 p.m. at night. I think weekends are just a better time for this type of thing.”
Ed Smith of Oxford, Mich. won the Rally in the Valley 2
Biker Build off Challenge and young Brad Baker, of Corbin, was a fan favorite in the burn out pit, sponsored by Bobby’s Trackside.
On Saturday, about 150 bikers participated in the Mike Driggers Memorial Run – a ride to commemorate the death of Corbin’s Mike Driggers who died this summer while attending a motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota.
For the future, White said he predicts space problems with the current site.
“We run out of room this year,” he said. “We were very cramped. It’s going to take a lot of space planning next year.”
White said he plans to move the event to the Southeast Kentucky Agriculture and Exposition Center in two years when it opens in south Corbin.
Bikers from over 20 states attended this year’s Rally in the Valley.