As we drove past the Blackthorne I said “Holy Sh*t” we need to check this place out! And so it began, a love affair with a resort, a bike festival and the Catskill Mountains region - what’s not to love !

I had discovered the Blackthorne Resort by chance. I took my family on a camping trip in 2003 with my best friend and his family to attend the East Durham Irish Festival. We took a backroad from Doherty’s campground and as we drove past the Blackthorne I said Holy Shit we need to check this place out!

The following Spring, May 2004 I took my son turkey hunting. He was 12 and just passed his gun safety class. We had a friend who owned 10 acres of land in Cairo and the game plan was to pitch a tent in the woods
and get up and hunt. It poured rain and I suggested we pack up and find a room somewhere. Why not check out that place we saw. The Blackthorne Resort.

They were having a busy weekend there with the Nuggent Association. An Irish American club that were partying their asses off in the bar when we walked in.

Grownups dressed like cowboys and Indians. Seriously, we had no clue what was going on. But we had a lot of fun and when we met the owner Bob Handel he said we could hunt right there at the Blackthorne. Bob showed us the next morning where we could hunt. We didn’t get anything and Michael Jr. was bored out of his mind until finally a Turkey came
running down the trail right towards us. It was a hen and I didn’t shoot it but we ended up having a blast and now he was excited to get a chance to do it again.

We had picked up the calendar of events the Blackthorne had for the rest of the year and I was so impressed with all the live music they had scheduled. We just had to come back!

I came back Memorial Day weekend with my friend Eric and we pitched a couple of tents and partied all day and night. I got some funny stories about that weekend but I’ll save that for another time. But, I will say that the bartender Mike Morrisroe known as Irish Mike never forgot that first time we met. He was great but it was taking too long to get a beer so we asked if we could get a pitcher of Guinness. He laughed at us and
walked away. When he finally got back to us, still laughing and this huge smile on his face he said “ No one has ever asked for a pitcher of Guinness before” ! He walked away laughing again and we were parched. Again he came back and said he would have to ask the owner. So he disappeared once more and now we were REALLY thirsty.

He came back and said yes we can and it will be $20. We said ok great give us 2 pitchers. When we finally got them we picked them up and started drinking right out of them !

Irish Mike couldn’t believe his eyes.

That Memorial Day Weekend was really the start of my love for the Blackthorne. And so Eric and I decided to come back up for the Catskill Mountain Thunder that September 2004. My wife suggested I bring Michael Jr. with me. She said he will have fun. I know she just wanted him to go to keep me out of trouble. What was a 12 year old gonna do
at a motorcycle festival?

When Eric and I got together we did a lot of partying and we drank a lot too. I gave my camera to Michael and let him walk around taking pictures of the bikes. He was having a great time and then asked me if we can get the all you can eat spaghetti for a dollar. I was like, what are you talking about? He said he saw a sign about spaghetti wrestling tonight and all you can eat spaghetti tomorrow. I tried explaining it was a joke but he was persistent on getting all you can eat spaghetti!

That night Eric and I, half in the bag, went to the pub to check out the music. We took Michael with us. I wasn’t leaving him by himself at camp and sure enough, there was the sign he mentioned! Spaghetti Wrestling tonight. All you can eat spaghetti tomorrow!

The bar was packed with bikers and there were the occasional biker chick flashing their b**bs (the old days). Next thing I notice Michael jr. puts a bandana around his head so he would look cool. The Razorbacks were playing and they were awesome. Also, a band called Bullzeye was playing some great country tunes. Out the back door there was a heavy metal band called Crunchtime and they were getting ready to start the spaghetti wrestling. We got out there but it was pretty crowded and I couldn’t find a good place to stand to take video and photos. I forget what I was standing on but I was able to get some video. I looked around and didn’t see Michael anywhere.

So now I had to look for my kid in this crowded bar.

Luckily Michael who was very big for his age was easy to find with that bandana on his head. He was talking to one of the bouncers whose name was Phil. I spoke to Phil briefly and we hit it off knowing some of the same people from Long Island. He said keep your eye on the kid it’s pretty crowded in here. I thanked him and told Michael to follow me back outside for what’s left of the spaghetti wrestling. When we got outside it
had already ended. So while I was disappointed, Michael says to me let’s go back inside, “they’re going to have a Titty contest”. Well now…. Good thing I brought my 12 year old kid. Otherwise I might have missed it.

The bar was packed and it was hard to get a good spot for the contest. All of a sudden I get a tap on my shoulder and when I turned around some biker says to me “ Is that your kid? How old is he?” And without hesitating I lied and said yep, he’s 16. Not sure what kind of response I would get he smiled and said “Damn, you’re the coolest Dad ever!

Taking your kid to a Titty contest! “ With that said I asked Michael to take the camera and work his way through the crowd to the stage and get all the pictures he could. That lasted 5 minutes and I had to put another roll of film in the camera for him. That roll lasted 5 minutes too. So long story short, eventually when i got the film developed, I ended up with a bunch of blurry photos of belly buttons and nipples. Nice boobs! Who do they belong to? LOL !

The next day was Sunday and it was beautiful out. They were doing a pig roast and biker games. 2 pigs spinning on a homemade rotisserie run by some kinda motor. Pretty cool. The biker games were pretty cool too. The MC that weekend was Jeremy Uhl and not Mikie Bennett who has been doing it pretty much every year since. While at the bike games that day we heard someone call it biker rodeo or rodeo games. My son says to me pointing at Mikie Bennett, doesn’t that guy look like the cowboy from the
rodeo we went to? I start looking at Mikie and said yea he does. When I got a chance to speak to Mikie I asked him if he ever worked at a rodeo or Carson City and he smiled and said “ My name was Texas Red and I used to get shot dead 4 or 5 times a day at Carson City”. I told him my son recognized him and that we only went to Carson City the one time when he was 3 or 4 years old. And that I had a video of his shootout with the sheriff. That was my first time meeting Mikie Bennett and I told him
someday I’d make a copy of the Carson City shootout for him, which I did.

By the time the day was over I knew I was going to return to Catskill Mountain Thunder and the Blackthorne Resort the following year. What a blast we had that weekend. We probably camped there 4-5 times a year for the next 2 years. Until I finally talked to Roy Handel about getting a campsite. Getting my campsite at the Blackthorne was one of the best things I ever did in my life. We came up from Long Island every weekend. It became our home away from home. Catskill Mountain Thunder and Memorial Day weekend were my 2 favorite weekends.

Carrying around a camera or video camera was something I always did because I loved recording bands and The Blackthorne was a great place for me to fine tune my videography and photography hobbies.

That very first Catskill Mountain Thunder 2004 experience is something I’ll never forget. For years I ran around taking pictures and videos of the events. I used them to promote the place and then eventually started my own FaceBook page called Blackthorne Resort Weekend Warrior Project. The promotion continued and I am always happy to do it. I got asked to be a VIP behind the scenes photographer at one of the CMT festivals
one year and loved it. Do what I love to do and not be restricted. I did it for several years afterwards. The day the bar caught fire was one of the saddest days of my life. My wife and I both stood teary eyed watching it burn down to the ground. We didn’t know what would happen to our home away from home. It will never be the same. But the Handel
family vowed to build a new bar, bigger and better, and they did. I think I could probably write an entire book of stories about the Blackthorne.

And now that I’m saying that maybe I will? So many great times at CMT over the years. DuringCovid my wife and I decided to get the F off Long Island and move up here. I used to say it was a 3-1/2 hour drive to the Blackthorne but now I can say it's a 3-1/2 mile drive!

We love the East Durham area and everything Greene County has to offer. When we bought the house and I was asked by Patty Handel if I was going to get rid of my camper now that I’m her neighbor, I said “HELL NO” !

It’s going on 20 years since my first CMT experience and I look forward to this years event as much as all the others. See you there!