MOUNT VERNON — What do motorcycles, a flea market and professional wrestling have in common? The Dixie Land Bike Slam, which is coming to the Fredericktown Flea Market on Saturday.
The event, which runs from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. will mix music, motorcycles, a cornhole tournament and professional wrestling in a family atmosphere. Fredericktown Flea Market owner Jason Bowles came up with the idea to generate more interest in the flea market.
“The name for it came on a play off the Dan Emmett song,” said Bowles. “As far as the event, I had a motorcycle for several years until I bought this property, and had an interest in motorcycles. We wanted to do different events at the flea market throughout the year, and this just kind of grew into a larger thing. We planned on starting out as a bike show and cornhole tournament. ... As we started planning, we joked about the name and that led to Dixie Land Body Slam, which jogged my memory. I went to school with a friend named Wes and he was into amateur wrestling. I was in contact with him, so I made a call and the next thing I know, we had big name wrestlers. Everything just kind of came together like a miracle.”
The highlight of the event will be the wrestling, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. WCW/NWO superstar Buff Bagwell will headline the card, which will also feature several other younger professional wrestlers. There will be a ladies’ match, a hardcore tag team match, a triple threat cruiserweight match and an appearance by a surprise WWE/ECW wrestling superstar, who Bowles said a lot of people will know.
“I think we are hitting a lot of things; all of it really goes together,” said Bowles. “I’ve taken a lot of phone calls from people who are ecstatic about the wrestling. ... Buff Bagwell’s name, along with the other really big name coming, will be a tremendous draw. These are major stars. I’m ecstatic and humbled that they would come and participate. It will be a really good wrestling show. There are about 20 wrestlers coming.”
With so much to offer, Saturday’s event could serve as a pilot for future events. Bowles sees Knox County as an opportunity just waiting to happen, and believes that the community will really enjoy this event.
“We hope to make this an annual event,” Bowles said. “If this one goes well, we will definitely do it again. We’ve got a little room for growth on our property, so the potential is there. ... We want this to be family-friendly. That was a moral choice for us. We want kids to come; I think they will have a lot of fun with this. ... Fredericktown is a dry town and we are promoting no alcohol. That might hurt us; I don’t know, but there are a lot of people interested.”
There is an admission fee for the wrestling. For more information, go online to www.fredericktownfleamarket.com/bikeslam
