Last year, the Rhinebeck National Bike Show and Swap Meet was held at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck for three days in June. To be held this year from June 12 through June 14, the 2009 event promises to be even better than last year’s.

Huge and worth the trip all by itself, the Fairgrounds has parking for thousands of cars and motorcycles. The grass is kept like a golf course, with easy to walk blacktop roads and big old shade trees to keep you cool. There are full RV hookups, plenty of nice clean bathrooms and showers. It is one of the most beautiful fairgrounds in the United States.

The National Bike Show and Swap Meet is an Antique Motorcycle Club of America Northeastern Coalition meet organized by six Northeast Chapters: the Hudson Valley Chapter, Big Sandbar, Seaboard, Colonial, Empire and Yankee.

The event turned out to be one of the largest held for Antique and Vintage motorcycles in the country that year. The parts vendors were lined up on the highway for a day before the gates were opened in anticipation of what turned out to be a huge bike show with hundreds of vendors. This meet drew in crowds of thousands of collectors, enthusiasts, as well as the locals who came out just to see the show. Food and beer vendors were on hand to keep you fueled up.

And what a show it was! One of the main features was a motorcycle timeline that started with several bikes of each year from 1972 down to the oldest that they could lay their hands on, which was from 1896! The lineup had many different manufacturers and models from all over the world. All the spectators were amazed by the many different makes that they had never heard of in the timeline. There were many one-of-a-kind bikes and rare models, and the show was also a nice mix of original paint bikes to concourse type restorations.

The Swap meet took a couple of days just to take it all in; there were so many NOS and good used parts everywhere, collectables, plenty of restoration projects to tempt anyone to get into this hobby. People were talking about finding that elusive part that they were looking for years!

If you got tired of the motorcycles, an antique machinery show was also included at the meet, with hit and miss engines up and running, giving demonstrations of old water pumps, power plants, lumber mills and more.

Another treat was that the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, which is just a few miles down the road, offered biplane rides in a 1929 Standard airplane. The Aerodrome will be a part of the meet in 2009 with a Great WWI Air show and Biplane Rides.

If you missed last year’s event, don’t miss the debut of the Rhinebeck Grand National Super Meet from June 12 through June 14, 2009. The staff says there will be lots of surprises for this show with more vendors and displays than in 2008, along with the return of exciting features such as the Globe of Death and a Freestyle Jump Show. This will be 2009’s Largest Antique Motorcycle Show in the United States. Check in at www.rhinebecknationalmeet.com for the latest information, or call 518 828 2768.