Motorcycle Festival Draws Diverse Crowd

Harleys and horses. Burly bikers and chiseled cowboys.

Those are the elements of the Southwestern Motorcycle Jamboree, which continues today at Lake Casitas.

Billed as an event “where the iron horse meets the Old West,” the jamboree is a mishmash of motorcycle displays, reenactments of famous gunfights, bike rides around the Ojai Valley and mounted shooting competitions on the lake shore.

On Saturday, craft booths selling Indian jewelry and other western knickknacks sat side by side with those offering Harley Davidson T-shirts and leather jackets tended by bearded bikers. A procession of twangy country music groups took the stage at one end of the festival grounds, while the snarling guitars of hard-rock bands dominated another temporary venue at the other.

Some saw the combination as a clash of subcultures, others as a meeting of shared philosophies.

Subscribing to the latter view was 46-year-old Steve Westerfield, a landscape contractor known as Dirty Steve on weekends by his partners in the gun-slinging group, the Pro-West Gunfighters.

“They represent the modern-day outlaw image, we represent the Old West outlaw image,” said the Stetson-wearing Simi Valley resident. “It’s like the past meets the future. We dress the part, they dress the part.”

But leather-clad Jeff White, 46, of Oxnard, an oil rig worker and Harley owner, saw an inherent dichotomy in the event.

“I think it’s fine, it’s just not my deal,” he said, as he sipped beer with several biker buddies while cowboys fired six shooters nearby. The cowboys “are about as far on the opposite end of the spectrum as you can get. I’m sure they’re good people. We just kind of stick to our own.”

Numerous groups are taking part in the jamboree. They range from the Thousand Oaks chapter of ABATE, a lobbying group of motorcycle enthusiasts out to improve the image of those who love riding on two wheels, to the California Desperados, an organization of folks who prefer riding horses and recently triumphed at the world mounted shooting championship.

Vendor Joyce Henry, 48, of Huntington Beach, who sells Native American crafts from a booth and whose husband rides a Harley, said the festival promotes unity.

“It brings people together,” she said.

But some festival participants liked the diversity.

“There’s a very good assortment of people if you’re a people watcher,” said Ojai retiree Bill Fairweather, 66, who used to ride a Harley in his younger days.

Added his sister-in-law, Alice Bailey, 57: “We knew the scenery would be wonderful--and we don’t mean the lake.”

The jamboree continues from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today. Admission is $6 adults, $4 seniors and children. Parking is $2.