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This is a write up from Cyclequest .com

What a beautiful weekend for an event! Usually when Screw Laughlin happens each year, the weather is usually getting HOT! Even though this event is now 1 week later then it has been in the past, (due to Laughlin moving the date of the River Run), The weather couldn’t have been planned better.

Sign up started for ‘Screw Laughlin 4’ at Charleys Place, located at 43rd Ave and Thunderbird Rd in Phoenix. Registration was to begin at 10am and continue until Noon. We arrived early to help in some set up and were surprised to see a load of bikes already there. We thought that maybe they had came early to enjoy some of the good eats at Charleys Place. But that wasn’t the case at all, people were lining up to get that oh so popular ‘Screw Laughlin’ run pin that would be given out to the first 300 registered. It was pretty amazing to see the line go out the door and around the building as riders patiently waited. Clubs involved with putting the run on came early to register so they could get to their work positions for the poker run. It was now 10 o’clock and the registration frenzy began. This year there were new t-shirts that you could purchase for $10 (ladies and men’s what a bargin!) and kickstand plates silk-screened with the ‘Screw Laughlin 4’ logo on them. You could purchase them for $4 and they were really quite nice, even if you were just going to keep it as a memento.

Soon riders were on their way through the stops. First stop on the route was the Roadrunner Steakhouse in New River, 2nd stop was Kid Chilean’s in Blank Canyon City, 3rd Stop Mayer Harley Davidson and then on to the final destination, Papa’s Place in Cordes Junction.  It was funny to hear just how many people never knew that Papa’s Place was even there. Gee…that has been a popular place for us to stop for years on our trips to Williams.

There were around 12 vendors at Papa’s, a bit less then year’s past but with the price of fuel these days, you can bet the vendors are going to be more selective of the events they attend.  The set up was pretty nice. There was a long driveway that was graded for ‘Bike Parking Only’, Cages in the north end of the parking lot and vendors on the south end. Behind Papa’s was a great little patio area and a big fenced yard grass and trees. The shade from the building in the afternoon was really nice along with shade from the trees and the additional pop-ups supplied by the coordinators. The wind was a bit strong in the afternoon but soon died down in the early evening.

All day until 5pm, there was a disc jockey spinning some great tunes for all to rock to. It was a good variety of music, some country, modern rock and classic rock which appealed to all. There were biker games, knife throwing and the ever-popular ‘Jap Smash’ to entertain all through the afternoon. The band ‘Fools Life’, sporting a new guitar player and drummer, rocked the crowd starting at 5pm. What a great change for this band, they were always good but the sound they are putting out now is bluesier and totally awesome!

At 4:30 the winners of the poker run were announced and the raffles tickets started to be pulled and posted. At 5pm for $6 you could get a BBQ dinner with BBQ beef sandwich, potatoes salad and cowboy beans. You could also order off the regular menu…we did see many inside having a pretty fine looking steak.  Five 0’clock also marked the time for people to sign up for the tattoo contest and the ever popular…wet t-shirt contests. This year there would be two of them. One for the Au’ Natural and one for the Cosmetically Enhanced. We have never seen so many excited women over this chance. Women all ages, all sizes and all types came crawling out of the woodwork to sign up for the Au’ Natural class. They liked the idea that they could once again compete in this contest and have a fair chance. Funny thing was there way more women in that contest then the cosmetically enhanced.

 The wet t-shirt contest was originally scheduled for 9pm but with the crowd thinning and wanting to head back down to the valley before it got to late, the promoters moved the 50/50 and the contest up to 7:30.  What looked like a pretty thin crowd by this time, exploded into a mass of people when the boob contest was ready to start. Locals and bikers piled out of the bar and into the back yard and many others had their faces pressed to the glass from inside. Folks were whooping and hollering, men and women alike. No one had as much fun as Jamin’ Dan from Fools Life when he got to MC the event up close and personal. 

After the contest many riders went back in the bar and many sat out around the fire talking and just enjoying a relaxing evening. Most of these folks were camping or staying at nearby hotels and motels. It was a perfect end to a perfect day.

We must say we have enjoyed all the ‘Screw Laughlin events since they were started, but this has to have been the best one yet. We will be there again next year and can’t wait to see what big plans these folks have for the 5th anniversary of this run. Kudos to all!  There should be pics up on www.screwlaughlin.com in a few days so be sure to check them out.