Party at the Pen, Mansfield, OH
3 Days in the Slammer for Showing Some Good Taste
Some 200 items of evidence against boring stock bikes and lukewarm garage builds had been successfully rounded up for this party at the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio. Which is an ancient Hollywood movie ready pile of stone and concrete, built between 1886 - 1919, to house the middlin’ bad, the bad, and the very bad boys. Just the place to have a weekend long party, dontcha think. The party’s name "Party at the Pen" tracks, and it’s one of the rising stars in the custom calendar.
Well, let’s take a look at the week end’s proceedings:
The Friday: arrival of the delinquents.
Almost 200 choppers, suspected of artful customizations had been crammed into the cell blocks. The prison / party management had provided oil-absorbing mats for every vehicle (unobtrusively decorated with the PatP and W&W logos), ’cos even the most well behaved Harley is liable to drip drip some fluids when stationary. Talking about fluids: cold beer, gasoline powered bikes and bar hopping people met in "The Brickyard" in the Carrousel district. The verdict: party without parole.
The Saturday: the raging mob.
From 11:00 local time on the gates were stormed by outside visitors, many of them riding their own bikes into the grounds. Which turned into a kind of wrenchers' art - vintage collectors' wet dream - barn find - custom jewels - hot rod - swapmeet - tsunami, on which the FoPatP (Friends of Party at the Pen) surfed from vendors' stall to vendors' stall: food, drinks, style, art, tattoos ... and just like it should be in a State Prison at 18:00 the gates closed, and the order was: move over to "The Brickyard" and get another party started!
The Sunday: jury’s still out.
Who’s the culprit who didn’t empty their last beer? Fate was swift in its punishment with rains on the Sunday morning. The stalls, the swap meet, the fun – everything was condemned to a few hours of muddy sludge. Until the sun came back for a shortened sentence, letting the wild mob start the party again. Party at the Pen!
