Old Town Goes Off Road with Action Sports Expo
Holly Herndon — July 25, 2014
The streets of Old Town Temecula are about to get dirty.
On Saturday, August 9th from 2-10 pm, the Off Road Nights Dirt Lifestyle Festival brings the ultimate in off road action sports to Main Street, including everything you need to know to start kicking up some dirt.
"The Off Road Nights Dirt Lifestyle Festival is an off road expo with vendors, displays and demonstrations as well as the off road car show," Rat Sult, event organizer, said during a recent phone interview. "We are going to have every type of off road vehicle, from trophy trucks to motocross to dirt bikes."
Now in its second year, the adrenaline-fueled event has grown substantially to accommodate the overwhelming amount of eager off road enthusiasts who attended their inaugural festival last year.
"We only had the wine and beer garden parking lot last year and we packed the place," Sult said. "You couldn't even get into town. So, this year it's a city sponsored event, it's free to the public, and it's all over Old Town."
The event will feature all aspects of the off road universe, including motocross, sand, desert racing, rock crawling, adventure vehicles and even fashion and off road gear.
Sult doesn't want to pigeonhole the event's attendants to those who already partake in these kinds of muddy action sports, but also educate the public on the lifestyle and hopefully gain a few new eager recruits.
"If you are interested in getting into anything related to off road or motorcycles or anything you'd use to play in the dirt, where people take to the sand and have fun, this is the perfect introduction to the lifestyle," Sult said. "People can bring their families down and come check out all the different genres of off road."
In addition to sports-related vendors and vehicles, the event will feature a large kid zone, food booths and beverages, sponsored by Budweiser. It's a festival atmosphere geared toward delighting all ages of Temecula residents.
Reckless in Vegas headlines this year's event.
Three different bands will play throughout the day at the main stage in front of City Hall, including headliner, the sixties Rat Pack-inspired rock trio, Reckless in Vegas; fronted by vocalist Michael Shapiro.
"We do basically 60's Vegas, all the music that was made famous in the sixties, but we do sort of a modern, edgy twist to it," Shapiro said. "We sort of take inspiration from Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, all those sort of songs that were made famous back then, and do new arrangements for them. But the lyrics and the melodies are true to the originals."
Shapiro is confident that Reckless in Vegas will definitely add to the high spirits of the off road crowd.
"Our audience is nine year old kids all the way up to people who are in their seventies," Shapiro said. "We've selected songs that some of the younger generation are familiar with but don't know why, to the older generation who grew up with these songs. People should be there for the connection and for the familiarity and mostly just for the fun. That's what music is. It's meant to be joyful."
As a precursor to Saturday's street festival, Sult's group, the Off Road Knights, will host an open forum and mixer for the public, as well as representatives of major off road organizations including the American Sand Association, the California Off Road Association, the Bureau of Land Management, among others, to openly discuss the state of desert rights in California.
Local band, Slow Traffic, will entertain at Friday's event, taking place at City Hall from 6-9 pm.
Sult looks forward to the success of this year's Off Road Nights Dirt Lifestyle Festival and the prospect of turning it into an annual tradition for the whole family.
"We want to make it a staple event here in Temecula; kind of like the Rod Run of action sports," he said. "Every type of off road sport will be represented so it's the perfect opportunity for anyone to come see what it's all about."
For more information on either the Friday or Saturday events, visit their Facebook page.
Off Road Nights Dirt Lifestyle Festival
Saturday, August 9 from 2-10 pm (pre-event mixer, August 8th from 6-9pm)
Tags:concert,kids,old town,recreation
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