This year’s Thunder Valley Rally got off to a bit of slow start, but once the sun began to set over Cottonwood’s Riverfront Park on Friday, the scene developed into a full-scale celebration of motorcycle culture.
Around 5:45 p.m. on Sept. 16, bikers and enthusiasts, hell-bent for leather, flocked to the rally’s main stage as Oklahoma band American Slang wailed out their final songs, including a flawless metal-infused cover of Golden Earring’s “Radar Love.”
By the time headlining act Steven Adler Band began to play at around 8:30 p.m., the main stage field area had become nearly full, with attendees crowding the front of the stage as others set up circles of folding chairs and picnic blankets.
Hundreds more explored the vendor area’s dozens of various motorcycle outfitters, food and beer vendors and additional retailers.
Adler, a founding member of Guns N’ Roses, and his band rocked the crowd with Guns N’ Roses classics, including “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Nightrain” amid a backdrop of Riverfront’s colorfully illuminated old-growth Cottonwood trees until approximately 10 p.m.
On the following night, just after headliner Slaughter began to warm up with a goosebumps-inducing array of heavily distorted guitar riffs, Cottonwood Journal Extra spoke with TVR’s MC, Jonathan “Tumbleweed” Griffith.
Griffith, a musician and former nightclub owner turned full-time MC for various rallies and clubs, has presided over the TVR stage for the past 2 years.
“From what I saw last year, it already looks like the attendance is larger,” Griffith said. “This is a total home run; I’m so proud of [Parks and Recreation Director] Jak Teel and all the [Cottonwood] city workers and council. They have just tirelessly done this and big kudos to them.”
While TVR suffered from low attendance numbers last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Teel, who is the rally’s main planner, said this year’s event was much larger in comparison.
In an earlier EXTRA interview, Teel said the city was purposeful in its intent on keeping last year’s event smaller.
This year however, the city’s goal was to sell 6,000 tickets, of which unofficial ticket sales indicate at least 3,800 were sold as of Sept. 18.
“Actual attendance is higher,” Teel said of the event, which is Cottonwood’s largest.
While some were pleased to see the greater turnout, others say there is still room for improvement.
“We come every year,” Cornville resident Mackenzie Hedge said. “We like interacting with our friends and everyone here and enjoy riding. It definitely looks like it’s getting smaller every year. We liked it much better when it was in Old Town and it was spread out and you could go to the restaurants; it’s definitely not as good now that it’s here.”
Others were simply delighted to have stumbled upon the rally.
One visitor, a resident of Texas who declined to give his name, said he ended up visiting TVR by accident while on a cross-country motorcycle trip.
“My bike broke down in Flagstaff, and my cousin came and picked me up,” he said. “She convinced me to stay for American Slang, and it’s been really enjoyable so far.”
Additional Events
While most of TVR’s activities, like the custom cycle show, centered around motorcycles, additional events like the Thunder Throwdown ISKA Kickboxing Championship, the Miss TVR Contest and the TVR Dice Run for Charity also drew large crowds.
Meanwhile, plenty of discussions took place on the sidelines, where motorcycle club members like Camp Verde resident Rocky Blount shared club plans and ideas.
Blount, who is a member of United Bikers of Northern California said he is thinking about starting a chapter locally.
“I’m thinking about starting a chapter here; it’d be United Bikers of Northern Arizona,” said Blount. “There are lots of chapters, but [United Bikers] is all nonprofit. All we do is make sure other biker groups don’t hold rallies on the same day; we moderate it. We’re the referees of the biker world.”
Regarding his motorcycle, a 1994 Harley-Davidson Dyna Wide Glide, Blount said, “It’s wind therapy.”
For Griffith, working as MC at TVR is a great honor, even in comparison to his work as MC at Buffalo Chip Campground during the rally in Sturgis, S.D.
“Thunder Valley Rally is a beast of its own,” he said. “I’m very, very honored to be doing this show because everybody is so kind here.
“The music is awesome, the city of Cottonwood and their hospitality are beyond belief. The hotels are beautiful; they’re clean. There’s plenty to do, you’ve got Dead Horse Ranch State Park, fishing and camping. Jerome is right up the hill. This place is legendary and beautiful, and to have this kind of atmosphere, why would you not want to come to Cottonwood and have a good time?”
