HOG Rally to converge on Houma March 29

At the end of the month, thousands of Harley Davidson enthusiasts will descend upon Houma from all over the country.

The occasion is the 2007 LA State HOG Rally, a rally for the Harley Owner’s Group (HOG), hosted this year at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center by the Houma chapter of HOG.

The annual event, hosted in a different Louisiana city each year, is expected to bring around 3,000 to 3,500 Harley Davidson owners to Houma, according to local chapter director Billy Brown. “They’re coming from California, Washington … all over the continental United States, and also Ontario, Canada.”

The event kicks off on Thursday, March 29, and culminates on the Saturday. While the majority of the event is exclusively for HOG members, a Friday night festival in downtown Houma will be open to the public. Brown said the event will be similar to the monthly Downtown Live After 5 events, but would include much more. “In conjunction with the City of Houma and the Downtown Development Corp., we’re doing the Downtown Live Festival,” explained Brown. “It’s not going to be like you’ve been seeing Downtown Live After 5, this is going a step above. They’re going to close the street down, and there’s going to be more than one thing going on at one time.”

Brown said the night would include a variety of live entertainment, vendors and Cajun food. “We’ve met with all the shop owners in the downtown area, and they’re 100 percent behind this,” said Brown.

“They’re ready.”

Originally, the state rally was to be held in Houma last year, but with hurricanes Katrina and Rita impacting the area in 2005, Houma’s turn as host was delayed until this month. And now that Houma is getting its turn to host, Brown said visitors will get to truly experience the Cajun culture.

“That (is) what we’re looking for,” said Brown. “To give them what I call the real bayou country. They’ve had other rallies in the state talking about the bayou state, bayou country—no, they didn’t have (bayou country) until they come to Houma.”

Brown said everything about the event will be local, from bands to food to bike rides along the bayou. “Our whole deal is to give money back to the parish,” he said.

“They’re helping us out, they’re getting involved, so Hell, let’s get it back to the people that help us.”

Participating musical entertainment includes Waylon Thibodeaux, The Treater Band, Blue Eyed Soul and more.

As for food? Expect plenty of crawfish, shrimp, jambalaya and gumbo.

“We’ve told all the people serving the food, don’t do restaurant-style food,” said Brown. “You cook like you’re supposed to cook down here. This is what we want. Our culture, our food, our music—here it is.

This is what we love.”

Other events include a ride-in bike show, a three-day long poker run and bike games.

“This is where we let our hair down,” Brown joked. “There’s going to be no nudity, no fights, no brawls. This isn’t the motorcycle groups like you see on television.

It’s a family-type atmosphere. It’s a camaraderie thing going on, and it’s really nice.”