The Party Next Door: Hulett's Ham And Jam On Wednesday Of Sturgis Week

HULETT —Police Chief Bill Motley freely admits that most of his Ham and Jam arrests are fake.

Ham and Jam — once known as Panty-Free Wednesdays — draws tens of thousands of Sturgis Motorcycle Rally bikers into Hulett every year for a free pork sandwich and music.

The crowd can get quite intense, and a bit insane.

But in his nine years of watching over the Ham and Jam put on by Captain Ron’s Rodeo Bar & Lounge, Motley says he’s only had to make three drunken driving arrests.

There might be 25,000 to 30,000 people stopping off to roam Hulett for the day, but in Motley’s experience, no one in the crowd wants trouble. They all just want to have a little fun.

And Motley is more than happy to oblige them. He’ll laugh at their jokes, pose for selfies when asked and even act out a fake arrest or two — for visitors bold enough to ask.

He’s become lifelong friends with some of the tourists along the way. Like the man who brought his brother to the event one year, and then persuaded Motley to fake an arrest just to scare him.

“I put my hand on his shoulder and said in a loud voice, ‘I thought I told you never to step foot in my town again!” Motley recalled. “His brother’s eyes got this big around.”

Motley held up his hands as if cupping a baseball.

It was an epic Kodak moment for the brothers, and still brings a smile to Motley’s face.

Dead Body In Front Of Ron’s Rodeo Bar

As Motley sees it, with so little actual crime going on, his job every Ham and Jam is public relations more than anything else.

Although, the second he saw someone lying on the street, he was quick to drop everything and check on the man.

It turned out to be bar worker Cassie Gose playing a little prank of her own. The man had agreed to model a dead body for her on the street. She was marking around him with chalk, right in front of Captain Ron’s Rodeo Bar & Lounge.

The bar provides an annual free pork lunch and a musical concert, which lends the Ham and Jam its name. The event goes back at least 36 years and once involved barbecuing a whole pig onsite. That was former owner Ron Waugh’s idea.

His wife, Marla, has continued the Ham and Jam tradition, but these days the bar smokes pork loins instead. That’s less expensive and easier to accomplish. It takes two or three days to smoke a whole pig.

Despite recent inflationary trends, the family never plans to charge for the Ham and Jam, though some have suggested it over the years.

“My aunt always said, ‘If Jesus can take a loaf of bread and a fish and feed 5,000 people, so can we,’” Brianna Gose told Cowboy State Daily. “So that’s why we just kept it going all this time, and this is my mom, Marla’s, 29th Ham and Jam.”

Monkey’s Delight, Pasties And Gene Simmons

You never know who — or what — you will meet at the Hulett Ham and Jam or what you will see.

Sometimes, famous people pass through like Ultimate Fighting Champion President Dana White or Sarah Palin, former governor of Alaska and one-time vice-presidential hopeful.

Others may not be famous, but they have put some thought into how they can bring joy to the event, like Rod Frahm of Nebraska, who walked around this year in a Gene Simmons mask. He does it to get laughs, he told Cowboy State Daily.

He was a popular selfie target at the event, as was a woman from Brazil who carried around a baby monkey.

Cintia Foster told Cowboy State Daily she rode up to the Sturgis Rally from Florida, and her newest pet monkey, Julie, came with.

“She’s with me 24/7,” Foster said, smiling as the teething 9-month-old chewed happily on a plastic spoon before deciding to try out this reporter’s sleeve.

"She won’t bite,” Foster assured this reporter.

Foster came to Hulett because “they said there’s a big party here today, and it was a beautiful ride from Sturgis.”

Julie will get about three times larger than she is now, Foster said.

People impersonating the lead singer of Kiss, and a baby monkey mama aren’t the wildest things one might see at Ham and Jam by far, though.

The crowd sometimes includes women who are wearing nothing more than pasties up top or painted breasts — both legal per town ordinances.

Motley has a photo of two such ladies who took a selfie with him, one from Canada and the other from Montana. The two friends had asked the police chief first if what they were about to do was legal.

One year, though, a woman wearing only a thong and painted breasts was planning to ride through town. Motley convinced her to buy a pair of short shorts to wear over the thong, making her attire legal.

“She was still a big hit,” Motley said. “Everyone wanted a selfie with her.”

Ham and Jam used to be a good bit wilder with things like “Panty-free Wednesday” and a topless rodeo, Motley acknowledged. The town passed ordinances prohibiting nudity to tone things down and make the event the town relies on a little more family friendly.

Tiny Town, Huge Logistics

Ham and Jam generates up to half of what some of the businesses in Hulett make every year. It’s more like Christmas than the entire month of December for the tiny town.

But it’s a huge logistical burden for such a small community to bear.

“Ham and Jam makes Hulett the third largest city in the state of Wyoming for a little while,” Motley said.

There are lots of moving parts behind the scenes making sure everyone is not just safe, but happy, too.

Most people, however, don’t notice any of the thoughtful staging. Like the placement of the free water station.

Motley prefers it right in front of Ron’s Rodeo Bar.

“Otherwise, we have people trying to make a u-turn right here, and that’s just a mess,” Motley said.

The water station’s location makes it impossible for riders to turn around and keeps traffic flowing in one direction. And it’s a good central location to provide free water and sunblock to participants.

Hulett spent $13,932 to host Ham and Jam this year, according to a placard placed above a donation barrel.

The breakdown was $7,306 for portable restrooms, $3,250 for trash pickup, $2,468 for security and $898 for flaggers and sanitation workers.

Better Than Sturgis

Sturgis attendees told Cowboy State Daily they like Ham and Jam better than Sturgis because it’s much more laid back and less commercialized than the Sturgis rally.

“It’s like a big backyard party,” one attendee told Cowboy State Daily. “Nobody is trying to sell you anything. Everyone’s just here for a good time.”

That’s what Motley has noticed about Ham and Jam folk as well.

They don’t want to cause trouble, they just want to have fun.

“They just want to be someone else for a couple of weeks,” Motley said. “So, a lot of what I do for this is just interacting with the public.”

People ask him for directions, and he happily obliges. He makes lunch recommendations, too. The catfish is his favorite, he’ll tell them, but if they’re looking for something healthy, the Ponderosa Cafe might be the thing.

There’s also the free ham and jam pork sandwiches at Ron’s Rodeo Bar, if they haven’t run out, or if they want a sit-down meal, there’s the 77 Steakhouse & Saloon or the Red Rock Cafe.

Motley doesn’t mind smiling and striking a pose with the tourists who want to take selfies with him.

“My predecessor didn’t allow photos at all,” Motley said. “But I told my officers they can, they just need to be sure whatever photos they’re taking will reflect well on the department.”

Motley is a popular target for selfies, but he’s not the most popular. That honor goes to the mounted patrol certified officer on a horse.

“Cheyenne Police Department used to bring their horses down to this,” Motley said. “And people were always asking where’s all the horses?”

So, when one of his officers asked Motley if he could use his horse during Ham and Jam, Motley was all in.

“The horse is a big hit,” Motley said. “Lots of people come in looking for the horse, so they can get their picture taken with it.”

The Fives And Zeroes

Attendance was down for this year’s Ham and Jam, something townsfolk told Cowboy State Daily they had expected.

“It’s the fives and the zeroes,” Tom Coronato explained. “The anniversary years are always higher and the year before is always a little soft.”

Next year will be the Sturgis Rally’s 85th year. People who can’t go to the rally every year will often hold off the year before an anniversary like that, so they can be there during the special year.

“The economy is also a bit soft,” Coronato added. “But any rally is a good rally.”

Hulett, with a little more than 300 people, relies on the Sturgis rally each year like other retailers rely on Christmas.

Hulett doesn’t get much traffic in the winter. There’s too much snow for people to get out and about, leaving the town to fend for itself.

The Sturgis rally usually generates half of their annual business, but preparing is a challenge. They hire extra help, often reaching out to distant family and friends. They’ll also slim down menus, so they can keep up with demand.

“This year, it’s mostly all the diehards,” Coronato said. “They’re the ones who love to visit with the locals and the business owners.”

The diehards are often more generous, too, Coronato suggested, and that helps even out the lower attendance.

The boost in activity spans almost four weeks, with the week before the motorcycle rally getting busier, and the week after remaining fairly busy as well.

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.