Larry Fletcher grew up in Wisconsin in the late 1960s and early ’70s, like a lot of people his age, doing “silly stuff” on minibikes with his buddies. He took a break from motorcycling until he moved to Chicago as a 20-something. “I figured out, what a great way to commute,” he says. “Bikes were an easier way to get around, and I loved getting back in the saddle again. It was great.” Fletcher worked the Chicagoland bar and club circuit. Motorcycles, especially the vintage British iron he favored, were part of the street scene. That eventually led in the mid-1990s to establishing an official chapter of the U.K.-based “59 Club,” which was famously founded by the late Rev. Bill Shergold, known in two-wheel circles as the “ton-up vicar.” Fast forward to the present day. Fletcher, Martin Cimek, and Sean McKeough have grown the annual MOTOBLOT hot-rod culture celebration into an event so big it needed its own dedicated venue. “Whatever you’re into,” he says about the biker blowout of the summer, “internal combustion or even now with electric, anything on two wheels, we embrace it.” Invitation accepted!