Born To Ride Takes You To The Spring Angel City Motorcycle Rally 2014
This month BTR takes you to Unadilla, Georgia … smack dab in the middle of the great state of Georgia. Angel City is 100 acres of land totally designed, operated, and dedicated to the biker lifestyle. It’s unlike any other place in the world. Angel City delivers wonderful and unexpected surprises, so everyone who goes there once wants to return. It’s a full western town, with circular road, camping and RVing for bikers, live music, and quality vendors. But it’s much, much more than that, it’s the place to be twice a year, spring and fall. At this years’ 4-day Angel City Motorcycle Rally, we noticed that this great biker event had a heart and spirit all of its own that other rallies can only dream about. The Angel City Rally is about brotherhood, friendship, freedom, and of course, having a good time!
The first person I rounded up was the owner of Angel City, John Smith and asked him to introduce himself so he could give us a little history about the angel City Rally. “I’m John Wayne Smith, and I own Angel City, the best biker rally, I think, in the state of Georgia. Right here in middle Georgia, Unadilla, Georgia. I got my first scooter 47 years ago and I’ve been riding on and off all my life. I’ve raised my family. My wife passed away after 28 years of marriage. I flipped out and started going to more rallies. We always went to rallies. Anyway, after she died, I came back home and decided I was going to build Angel City because I was tired of seeing all the big rallies over charge people. I got a $2 beer I call, ‘Home of the $2 Beer’ ‘cause I wanted to bring the old west back to Georgia because you go to Sturgis and see what they have there, and I said, ‘Why can’t we do it over here?’ and we done it here. I named it Angel City ‘cause my wife that passed away was my angel. I named her town, Angel City. Since then, I remarried and her name is Dawn. She runs the office and works with me just like my first wife did. And the thing about this all put together, man, that there ain’t nobody luckier than me. God’s blessed me more than twice; I’ve got one angel in heaven waiting on me and one walkin’ the earth with me. And the thing about Angel City is you can come to Angel City and it’s all about the brotherhood of the biker community. When you come to a bike rally like Angel City, it doesn’t matter if you sitting there and there’s a Philadelphia lawyer or a guy making minimum wage sitting beside him. They shake hands and drink beer, tell jokes, and be buddies all day long. It ain’t nothing about education; it ain’t nothing about how much money you got, it’s about the brotherhood and the sisterhood of riding scooters. And I invite people to come to Angel City that’s never rode so you can experience what these people do. What makes you rich? It ain’t money. Money ain’t got nothing to do with being rich. It’s the brotherhood and the sisterhood and the people that love you and respect you and would be there for you when you need them.”
At that point I was feeling goose bumps on my arms because this guy understands the true meaning of the brotherhood and sisterhood that we share in the motorcycle community. He went on to tell me more about his vision for Angel City. “Oh man, we’ve got people that come from everywhere. But all the campsites, like I say, there are 264 of them. We’ve got 50 amp service then through the woods, we’ve got primitive camping and then we’ve got dry camping. If you come here you’re gonna find something. It’s totally different than anything. People here have no problems. So where you gonna go where it’s a safer place. And besides that, where you gonna go in Georgia? I’ve have people from Australia, Belgium, Germany, Norway, England, and Canada. Everybody on the east coast is missin’ the best, biggest rally, private-owned rally in the country. You ain’t gotta pay $4, $5, $6 for a beer. We have $2 beers and great entertainment. Our bands start anywhere from 12 p.m. to 2 o’clock in the morning for four full days. And all it costs you is $45 a ticket. You can’t go out to eat for two people for that. Now, I guess, that’s pretty much it; other than me being John Wayne, I grew up being a cowboy-Indian boy and that’s what I believe in. And a handshake is still good as gold here. This 100 acre of Angel City is America and it will always be America. But if you don’t come, it’s your loss. If you do come, you’ll always come back because I swear, I promise you, one thing for sure; you will have a good time.”
Now for those of you who have never met Georgia BTR magazine Publisher Stewart Fincher, let me just say he is not shy, so when I found him holding court at the watering hole I had to ask him how things were going. “It’s a beautiful day out here! We’re having a great time, bikes showing up everywhere.
Never been to a venue quite like this … man, this is the place! Angel City is the hottest spot we’ve found in Georgia yet. It’s all about the bikers, folks. This is my first rally here at Angel City. But Wayne and Dawn have gone out of their way to make this a biker-friendly place in Georgia We really want to support everybody we can, help network, bring people, biker family, to the table. And help everybody get better at what they do.”
As Stewart turned to greet a friend, I asked his wife Myra what she thought of the rally … you know mama’s gotta have her say too! “Love it! Absolutely love it! It’s an awesome place; the atmosphere today couldn’t be better. We’re getting out everywhere we can and meeting new people—bringing new people into our family. We’re just loving it and so thankful to be blessed!”
Next I met Michelle, the owner of Strip Club Choppers Southeast; she told me why they were at the rally. “We came to Angel City to show ‘Hope’—our cancer-awareness bike that Eric and I built. Eric is over in Afghanistan. We wanted this bike to be something that brought awareness to cancer across the world as we travel. And she has 18 ribbons of hope, representing all forms of cancer. And we hope that all people are now aware of that pink’s not just the only color. I’m a survivor, two-times, I was first diagnosed with cervical cancer at age 18. I had another surgery again at 34. Eric lost his Poppa to cancer and his mother also battled the disease.”
“We started from the frame up. We used one of our Strip Club Chopper frames as well as our builder back home in Augusta, Rick. Every piece of this bike is thought out. We had a beautiful paint job creation done by Rob Little Man Custom Creations in Augusta, GA. It was a big family and business idea that came together and lived out a dream for me.”
For an event this big, Born To Ride can’t fit all the rally photos into one issue, so log onto https://www.borntoride.com/fl/eventsph.html to view more photos. Let me tell you, Angel City is the real deal, and once you come you will feel the same as I do now! To really understand the true essence of the Angel City Rally, I think John Wayne Smith says it best, “I may own Angel City, but Angel City doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the people of the biker community of the sisters and brothers that ride scooters; all sisters and brothers that ride scooters … Next one not to miss is the Fall Rally Oct. 22nd – 26th 2014.
For more info: AngelCityMotorcycleRally.com
By: Two-wheel Tony