Once a month during spring, summer and fall, hundreds of motorcyclists descended on Ballard. They were drawn to 17th Ave. NW and Leary, originally the site of the 2 Bit Saloon. They parked in long rows and packed Shelter Lounge, NW Peaks Brewery and other surrounding watering holes.
For those who didn’t know about Backfire Moto, it was a loud, mysterious event. For those who came every month, it was family.
But now as Backfire Moto approaches its tenth year — and the number of attendees continues to grow — the event is moving to Sodo.
“Why move from Ballard? Well, if you didn’t notice that the amount of available parking in Ballard for attendees was dwindling each year for the past few years, many of us did,” explain the event’s founders Sean Dunlap, Sean Westlake and Todd Werny. “Unfortunately, this new parking situation has progressively made it harder for our attendees to show up and park for the event.”
They said they were also concerned about the Missing Link’s impact on parking as well as future developments in the area. So beginning with their first spring meetup in March, Backfire Moto will be held outside “The Shop” along 6th Ave. S in Sodo.
“We are sorry, but this change is beyond our control and the new location is going to be awesome,” they write. “We would like to thank Shelter Lounge and NW Peaks Brewery, Stone’s German Garage, Lux, Filson and all their friendly staffs for their support over the years. We will always remember their warm hospitality to our moto-community!”
The spring opener of Backfire Moto is March 21st at 4 p.m.
(Photos by Todd Werny on Backfire Moto’s Facebook page. Thanks Ian for the tip!)