The mention of Bikes, Blues & BBQ brings a lot of imagery to mind — burly bikers, Harley Davidsons, turkey legs and lots of leather. One image, however, that isn’t normally first on the mind is that of church.

Church congregations across Fayetteville stood beside the 400,000 bikers in town for the annual Bikes, Blues & BBQ rally, which took place from Sept. 28 to Oct. 1. The churches sponsored a variety of activities throughout the weekend for the bikers, along with providing additional parking and bottled water.

This year was Central United Methodist Church’s 10th year to be involved with Bikes, Blues & BBQ, and they handed out more than 1,500 water bottles to bikers, plus opened up their parking lots for free parking on Friday and Saturday.

“Central UMC became involved in this BBB outreach because we wanted to let those coming to the festival know that God loved them,” said Clefton Vaughan, pastor of outreach at Central United Methodist Church. “What a wonderful opportunity for the Church to share God’s love with the hundred of thousands of guests coming into our community. The festival was coming whether we were ready or not, and we wanted to be ready to open our doors, our parking lot and our hearts to all who came.”

Central UMC had more than 75 volunteers working throughout Friday and Saturday. The church also partnered with Washington Elementary School and ran a fundraiser out of Central UMC’s parking garage to raise money for special needs children, Vaughan said.

“We love the bikers,” Vaughn said. “Though the noise level does greatly increase, Central UMC loves this time of year. Seeing all of the different bikes and bikers is truly a joy. We believe God made each biker in God’s own image, and therefore we are called to offer them God’s love and grace through Jesus Christ.”

The First Baptist Church hosted their annual free bike wash out on their lawn on Thursday and Friday, but they got even more involved this year by offering a hot breakfast to the bikers on Saturday, said Dr. Douglas Falknor, pastor at the First Baptist Church.

“We have made sure our parking lots are available for free— they fill up every year, and we left our doors unlocked throughout the day for people needing a clean restroom,” Falknor said.

All three of Cross Church’s campuses were involved with the rally. The church put on a children’s carnival, which included relay events, carnival games, prizes, a miniature stage for entertainment and even a tricycle race, said Cameron Bowman, children’s minister at Cross Church.

“We are involved with Bikes, Blues & BBQ as way to reach out to the community,” Bowman said. “This is one of the biggest events in Fayetteville, and this lets us be involved as much as possible. We really just use the rally as a way to hang out and meet new people.”

The event is one of the only activities specifically geared toward children, and all donations collected at the event will be given to a children’s home in Arkansas.

“We are trying to give the rally a really good family environment,” Bowman said.

St. Paul‘s Episcopal church had a picnic on their Dickson Street green space in the heart of the activity and entertained the crowd by having a “flash concert” on Saturday, said Lowell Grisham, rector at St. Paul. In addition, they provided rally parking for donation throughout the weekend.

Different groups of bikers even got involved with helping set up and operating booths.

“A group called ABBA, the Arkansas Baptist Bikers Association, attends the rally and they have assisted us with the bike wash, put up their own booth on our corner, and a few of them have camped in our parking lot,” Falknor said.

Central UMC also has help from the bikers. The local Christian Motorcyclist Association chapter sets up an information booth on the church’s grounds as a ministry to the visiting bikers, Vaughan said.

Because the rally is entirely run by volunteers, the churches play a key element in helping Bikes, Blues & BBQ organizers maintain a family-friendly environment.

“We enjoy being a positive encouragement to all the folks coming into town and we are always looking for an opportunity to show people the love of Christ,” Falknor said.

Directors of Bikes, Blues & BBQ value the support and help of the church volunteers, said Coleson Burns, assistant director of Bikes, Blues & BBQ.

“Rather than say ‘Oh it’s just a bunch of hellion bikers out there!’ They embrace us. It’s incredibly heartwarming,” Burns said.