TITV Peoples Gallery
The Official Thunder in the Valley Web Page

A final wrap-up from Johnstown’s Thunder in the Valley 2011. A few people pics to close things out till next year. There are still a half-dozen band galleries to post on the laurelight.com Facebook page, but they’ll show up as time permits. Meanwhile, this is a wrap, so on to the rest of Summer. There’s a lot of catching up to do.

Gallery of Thunder Sights
The Official Thunder in the Valley Web Page

My favorite Thunder activity? Simply looking. No matter where you turn, there’s always something else worth seeing; and something new to see every minute of the day; and the sights are always entertaining. Sometimes I just can’t put the camera down, and sometimes I probably should. Not withstanding, here’s a collection of grab shots from Johnstown PA’s Thunder in the Valley 2011 Motorcycle Rally.

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The laurelight TITV Kids’ Corner Gallery
The VOMA Johnstown Facebook Page
The Official Thunder in the Valley Web Page

Emphasizing the family-friendly nature of Johnstown’s Thunder in the Valley motorcycle rally, organizers presented the Kids’ Corner. Hosted by the Venue of Merging Arts (V.O.M.A.), Kids’ Corner offered face painting, airbrushed tattoos, braiding, those cool inflatable jumping thingees, a big ol’ hi-slide, and all other sorts of fun and games for kids and their families. A good time was had by all, children and parents. Of course, the biggest kid there was probably the guy behind the camera. A great job by all involved, staff and volunteers alike, keeping the crowds engaged and entertained. Check out these photos while I get to work on the next post: Thunder Sights – bikes and bikers and all the whatnot.

Laurelight’s TITV People Gallery I
Official Thunder in the Valley Web Page

Initially planned to shoot mostly bands @ this year’s Thunder in the Valley, but then I met a nice lady @ the VOMA Kids’ Corner who asked where she could see my finished products. So, I gave her my card and expanded the scope to include faces, places, bikes (motorcycles) and bikers, and other Thunder sights. Band pics will be coming soon to the laurelight Facebook page, so be sure to click the FB icon on top of the column to your right and ‘like’ us on Facebook.

And now, (almost) live from Downtown Johnstown PA, the first of 4 galleries covering the faces and folk, bikes and likes, and places and spaces of Thunder in the Valley. I love people photography.

Related Links:
The Laurelight Parade of Lights Gallery

Now where have I heard that before? Left the Ebensburg Wheels and Wings party a little after 8, and headed down to the Geistown Cloverleaf to catch the Parade of Lights; rolling thunder; bikes lit up with LEDS running Scalp Ave. and Bedford Street from Richland Fire Hall to Central Park. Got there about 8:30 and there was already vanfull of familyparked behind Young American Furniture waiting for the show. I set up on the grassy knoll between Scalp and Bedford and waited for the show. Looks like my panning technique could use a little work, but there are a couple of interesting phots here. I’ll just have to keep practicing and look for different results next year.

Related Links
The Laurelight Wheels and Wings Gallery
Ebensburg’s Wheels and Wings

Don’t let the sparseness of the crowd in the photo to the left fool you. I haven’t seen a crowd this thick since the 1987 Boston Ice Cream Festival. Behind me, on the wing block, it was “shoulder to shoulder, backs to the wall.” You couldn’t slip a sheet of paper between any 2 people there. But it was all good. It gave me an excuse to try my first slice of Clark Powell’s pizza. And that led to my second. And so on, and so on… Anyway, I was in town to shoot cars, meet folks and have a good time, not to eat wings. And they had some real pretty cars in Ebensburg, including the sweetest ride I’ve ever seen: Chris Ryan’s, of Ninety Six, S.C., 1948 Cadillac Series 62 convertible. Oh, what a beauty car. Check out the photos.

Related Links:
The Laurelight Wheels and Wings Gallery
The Laurelight Parade of Lights Gallery
The Laurelight Bike Rally Music Gallery
The Laurelight Bike Rally Food Gallery
The Laurelight Bike Rally Crowds and Faces Gallery
The Laurelight Bike Rally Bars Gallery
The Laurelight Bike Rally Sights Gallery
The Full Kilt MySpace Page
The Wheels MySpace Page

Okay, there were no mason jars, except for what I found cleaning Mom’s garage, but there were plenty of cars and bars and bikes and trikes, and more great jams than Donnie Iris can shake his dipstick at. Saturday was the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen in Johnstown, PA. This event is going to take 7 stand-alone galleries and 3 posts just to catch a glimpse of what a blast every moment was. For convenience sake, I’ve combined 4 of the galleries into this post and set aside Wheels and Wings and Parade of Lights for their own posts, but, as always, you can catch the individual gallery links up at the top of the post.

The Company You Keep

The quality of life is often determined by the quality of those you choose to keep around you. This year’s rally was top-shelf because of the moments I got to share with Karen, the En Brothers (Glenn and Ken – no relation), Ken’s new friend Theresa, and, the lightning in my thunder, the Lovely Brenda. And we got to meet plenty of other fine folk along the way, and it seems, since Satori Sunday that I’ve acquired the habit of meeting old friends I never knew I ever knew. All in all, I had me a real good time.

Location, location, location…

I’ve got thousands of biker pics on the hard drive, and hundreds on the site. This year was time to branch out and see what else could be seen. We took in the sights at Richland Fire Hall, Ebensburg’s Wheels and Wings, and along Graham Ave. in Windber. The En Bros. and I even incorporated the World Famous Windber Walking Tour into our visit. I missed Beavedale Hill Climbs and Cernic’s Somerset party, and blew off Greenhouse Park and Cambria County Fairgrounds. We hit a lot of bars, Hurdle’s, TNC, Windber Hotel, Town Tavern, Crousey’s, Jerry’s, Ohio Street Lounge; but left many undiscovered. Maybe next year. Ate lots of great food: snack at Clark Powells (no wonder their pizza has a county-wide reputation), breakfast at Erikson Field (Geistown-Richland Lions), lunch at the Knights of Columbus (best halupki ever), and dinner split between TNC (blow-you-away baked Italian hoagie) and Town Tavern (just a quick chef salad, cause I’m not getting enough veggies). Again, next year I’ll have to try harder on the food.

Jammin is My Life

The Wheels Rock! Course, any band that covers Tom Waits, Bob Dylan and Gram Parsons, as well as writes their own excellent material, is okay by me. Check out their MySpace page up above. Nice to catch up with The World’s Greatest Cover Band, The Desperados, once again. Michael Obrian and Full Kilt (also linked above) rounded out the cream of the crop. The Desperados don’t need no stinkin’ website. WHOA! Almost forgot. Honeys abounded once agan. I LOVE this town and I love my life. Thank you Jesus.

All right, wrap it up. I’ll take it. Here’s most of the phots and more to come in the next 2 posts.

This isn’t your father’s Windber. It seems that, ever since the hospital told the Memorial mega-medicinal conglomerate where to stick it, this town has been redefining it’s character, and I’m giving serious consideration to moving there. They’ve got great people, low taxes, some very cool bars, their own theatre, and they know how to throw a party. They’ve even got their own vampire convention.

Three weeks ago, the En Brothers (Glen and Ken – no relation) and I took the World-Famous Walking Bar Tour (another post for another time) on a road trip to Windber . Since then, I’ve been back 4 times. This past Friday, it was for the Inaugural Friday Night Cruise In: classic, antique, and state-of the-art muscle cars and hogs lining Graham Avenue, jams in the Gazebo by Day Well Spent, and beer by the Windber Fire Department. Clear skys, a beautiful sunset, and a typical good-natured Windber crowd all contributed to the good times.

There was a time when this sort of thing drove the authorities nuts. Even today, in Lancaster, driving up Prince Street or down queen Street, you can see the signs forbidding “passing this point three times in one hour.” Some towns still don’t like this activity. But progressive Windber has embraced it, and they’re reaping the rewards.

Sponsors for the (almost) weekly event include Conzatti’s Market, Rizzo’s Restaurant, and the Windber Hotel. I know there are more, and as soon as I get back there, I’ll get a handle on the details and repost for you. They’ll be doing this all summer long, but it’s not exactly every week. They’re skipping Memorial Day weekend, but coming back the following week. Anyone who can add more info, provide links to other sponsors, or who can help identify the cars in the photos, leave your comments below. You can check out the photos from here / / /, or click the galley link at the top of the post, or the 2009 Galleries link at the top of the page.

Thanks to Tomm and Bev for their contributions here and for their community involvement.