
13th Annual Swap Meet & Bike Show – Mecrin, France
Story and Photos by Horst Rosler
“We have a surprise for you coming up”, was the smiling invitation of School Bar Atelier’s Jean Claude Passetemps, a custom bike builder who has had bikes featured in Barnett’s Magazine in the past.
Quite often, the Old School meet at this small French village has been referred to as the “French Hollister.” And when tires are smoking in front of the town hall of Mecrin, everybody knows the date, it must be the first Sunday in May! The Swap Meet & Bike Show at Mecrin has grown bigger over the years, nevertheless, the event has retained much of its charm and family character. Which is partially due to the remote location of the village at the shores of the Meuse river, roughly about 25 miles south of the former World War 1 Battlefield of Verdun. And partially it is due to the enthusiastic club “Get a Rigid,” which has just surprised the French scene by becoming “Boozefighters” just before the event. The meet runs with a minimum of organization, but things work out somehow.
Arriving at Mecrin, former “Get a Rigid” members already wear the colors and the “prospect” patches of the “Boozefighters.” This year, the party started on Saturday, May 1st, which is a celebrated bank holiday in France. As the bikes rolled into Mecrin Saturday afternoon, the party started with a parade to the center and Chateau of Commercy, where all French prospects, guests from England and some original Boozefighters currently stationed in Germany, posed for a group shot. “We do like the attitude of the club,” says Passetemps, “It’s all about riding, partying and family. While the Boozefighters are probably the original 1%er club that started the ball rolling in 1946, we now don’t have any attitudes or claims of territory.” There are currently three chapters of the club in France, one known “freelance” member in Germany and several original US-members serving with the forces in Germany. With lots of booze to fight, the party went on all night.
Fortunately, since it added extra recovery time, a cold and wet morning kept the visitors away until lunchtime. “We like to keep it a one day event as done in previous years,” explained Jean Claude Passetemps, show organizer and Old School enthusiast owner of School Bar Atelier; his shop specializes in Old School Harley-Davidsons. Visitors usually come from all over Europe, the event is already above a “secret tip” status. But this year, with the 1st of May falling on a Saturday, a lot of foreign friends stayed at home. So only the French riders and customizers enjoyed the weekend ride through the Woevre, the Moselle and the Meuse Valley. There is little if any traffic, almost no police and many scenic landscapes to be discovered. The former American battlefields of the Saint Mihiel Salient, Verdun and the Argonne, can all be seen. In fact, trenches of the Saint Mihiel Salient are so close to town that French artillery shells are still found that were fired from Mecrin in WWI.
By noontime, the fenced-off town square is buzzing with visitors and parking even a bike in town becomes difficult. The weather forecast for Sunday wasn’t too bright, but apart from clouds and a few short showers, things remained fine and dry. This was perfect for the bands playing both on the main stage as well as beside the watering hole, attracting huge crowds as soon as the chords were fired from the amps. The swap meet became busy in the afternoon and sales were good. Although vendor numbers were down, probably for the same reason that the bikers didn’t make it, with 1st of May on any other weekday, it would have been a long weekend and given them more time to attend.
For bike show participants, there iss a small square to park the bike, but that does not mean that the “club jury” won’t pick some “one-off” creation out of the crowd. It may happen that you just park your bike at downtown Mecrin and go home with one of the trophies. This year was quite heavy on the “Old School” side, as it was to be expected. French Chopper and Old School enthusiasts came from as far as Toulouse, with “Best of Show” winner Bruno Burel riding his incedible homemade mega-Chopper some 800 miles one way from the south.
The day is over faster than one can count to hundred, even if you don’t stand in line for the local French cuisine. Following the trophy ceremony, the Striptease assembles the masses to one last highlight, before everybody mounts their rides and heads for home. By 9 p.m., the town looks like nothing has happened at all. All the waste is collected, bikes are off the mainstreet, the road is brushed. The spirit of Hollister is alive in France and it is alive without harassment from any police or law enforcement. May it stay that way for a long time!