KT’S Got Ink! And Bikes! And Beards!

WHEN I first saw the flyer for a Tattoo, Bike and Beard show to be held at my favourite local watering hole, I thought I was dreaming? But sure enough, Kez, a lovely young lass, had grown weary of the lack of tattoo and bike shows, due mainly to the ridiculous introduction of the VLAD laws some years ago up here in Queensland. She decided it was high time that someone stepped up to the crease and organised a local show to showcase their ink, bike building skills and facial foliage.

The Kallangur Tavern (or KT’s as us locals call it) was the chosen venue, and as far as space, shade, food and drinks were concerned, the boxes were all well and truly ticked. That fact that I can walk to this particular pub in under 10 minutes made it all the more enticing for this Ozbike contributor.

The Sunday of the show rolled around, the blue skies and swarms of bikes going past our house on the main drag were a fair indication that the first running of this show was going to be huge. And it was! By the time we rolled in through the front entrance of the pub around midday, things were well away. The cordoned off area in the rear car park was lined with show bikes gleaming in the sun as their owners lovingly polished away almost invisible streaks on paint jobs. There were full blown customs, dressed up stockers and a few rats thrown into the mix. Even a few classy cars rolled up for the day.

The Kallangur Tavern’s function room served as the judging area for the tattooing part of the day’s proceedings and the extra staff who were booked for the day did a great job of keeping the punters from going thirsty.

The pool tables were pushed aside to make way for a few top-end custom bikes to be on display inside and the stage was being readied for the arvo’s entertainment, the Fat Pigs. Always a crowd favourite and a regular at biker events all over south east Queensland. 

The judges, Christian, Kim and Thuan, were hard at work perusing the entrants’ body art for all the various categories and recalling some entrants for a second look when they couldn’t all agree on a winner. Very thorough and all very professional.

With the judging was done it wasn’t long before the winners for all the classes for tattoo, beard and bike show were announced and much of the crowd stayed on to enjoy the arvo, the band and the good company of friends in the great surroundings of KT’s.

Kez and her crew did an awesome job of organising a top show. There was a police presence, but that is always the case. There were no acts of police harassment and all the punters who attended the show were well behaved, as is the norm with these types of events. Kez has heard the voice of the tattoo and biker community and her decision to take the bull by the horns and make a show like this happen is not only brave, it is paramount towards things returning to some sort of normality in the local show scene.

Pics by Jo; words by Chuck U Farley