Many celebrations took place around the country this holiday weekend. I’m sure bluegrass was well represented at many of them. In Milwaukee, WI the celebration included both bluegrass and Harleys.

The Harley Davidson 105th anniversary celebration was held in downtown Milwaukee over the weekend. The entertainment included a number of bands, including a Saturday evening performance by Bruce Springsteen.

Harley Davidson held a band contest for bands wishing to play at the celebration. The twist was, the contest was only open to bands who had at least one Harley employee. Over 50 bands entered, but only was selected.

The Liberty Bluegrass Band was the winning band. The band’s lead singer, Rick Lewis, has been a Harley employee for over 16 years, and currently works as a manager at the Harley Davidson headquarters.

The guys in the band had a lot of fun and sent us a report along with a bunch of photos.

Yesterday we played the H-D 105th Celebration in Downtown Milwaukee at the Main Street Stage. We were the only bluegrass band to play during this whole weekend of music. We were well received and many comments came back that it was a great change from all the rock bands being played all weekend. Bruce Springsteen played the night before on the monster stage behind us (which was estimated at over 120,000 people). Yes, we were on the same bill as Bruce Springsteen.

We had perfect weather and played a 1.5 hr set. The roar of Harleys was felt for 5 great days. The whole city had a blast.