I was searching the internets, digging around for great beer themed vacations when I hit beertravelers.com and stumbled on a tradition from the small South Dakota town I grew up in, Brookings.

Brookings was generally not a very exciting place, just a regular little prairie town filled with good hearted honest folks of a mild temperament.  However, once a year in late June or early July Jim’s Tap, the best bar in town, hosts a Harley Ride Through Night when a bunch of bikers come to town and ride their bikes from the back beer garden through the bar and out onto main street.  I think it began as a stopping off point for folks on their way to Sturgis but the dates seem a bit early in the season for that these days.

Now, it’s been a good fifteen years since I’ve seen the spectacle and, as I remember, it seemed to get less and less renegade with each passing year but the earliest memories are pretty strong.
Long lines of gleaming bikes up and down both sides of main street, turning the sleepy little drag into a river of steel. Scantily clad women with a wild streak, strung out on the back of choppers lifting their shirts up above the bald heads of barrel chested ex cons as they boomed down the boulevard.  Jeez, I should get a job writing songs for The Boss:

Just watched some videos on youtube of the ride through and its definitely lost the hard, sometimes frightening edge, but why shouldn’t it, the edge is a harder and harder thing to find in this world.

All the same, I’m sticking to my memories and am inclined to believe that they are mostly true. Considering this tradition was started in 1971, I think it’s fair to say that the early population of enthusiasts included some folks who chose the road less traveled.
For what it’s worth Jim’s Tap is also a damn fine bar for a South Dakota town. Ever since I was wee one they’ve offered what they call “around the world” where in a brave soul pays something like $20, probably a bit more now, and gets 12 different brews from different parts of the world.  If you finish it before getting kicked out you get a t-shirt to boot.  I remember it being a popular past time of the ball players when I was a bat boy.  Anyrate, enough of the maudlin reminiscence, if your ever in Brookings get drunk at Jim’s. Tell ‘em I sent ya, I’d be curious to know if anyone in the place would know who the hell I was.