So Happy Harleydays! As we close out the year, I want to talk about one simple thing – how are we seen in our community?
Two weeks ago, I took a long weekend to do a run in St. Pete, Florida – especially since the weather here in the southern U.S. has been amazing. This was the Jim Rosenkrans Memorial Toy Run on the west coast of Florida and it was awesome – it was a little wet, but it made a ton of a difference in a lot of kids’ lives. I want to thank ALL the clubs that turned out – and all the independents (like me!) who drove out to do it.
It was a great year and we hope to have another one next year. We had a lot of feedback that the run was much slower this year. For safety reasons, the parade procession was paced slower because of wet roads.
I also want to thank everybody in that part of the world like:
- All the Law Enforcement Officers who helped escort the ride.
- The St. Pete and Lealman Fire Departments for helping to lead and trail the ride.
- The local celebrities Dave McKay and Jen Holloway for promoting the event.
- Mike from MnM BBQ for putting out some great food for a lot of people!
- Tony from Full Throttle for covering the event.
- The city of St. Petersburg and the Mayor’s Office for all their hard work on permitting and organizing.
- The FLGC HOG Chapter who handled registration and parking.
- The school volunteers that helped out with so much.
- All the great and generous sponsors.
- And of course, all the generous people who donated and participated in the run.
Now, the next weekend, Tallahassee Florida had a run with 500 bikes that did the same thing.
Want I need you guys out there to do – since I know that this is a tradition among bikers – is to get the media involved in these sort of things. Those folks are still talking about Waco from this Spring, but they don’t seem to show up when we do something that is a whole lot more characteristic of what the 99% do! I don’t care if you are in snow up to the tops of your chaps! Get out there and let people know that we are a great force for helping folks and even if we dress in black leather and can’t spell muffler, we have a soft spot for the people in the towns and cities we call home.
So have a Merry Christmas, get some gear for the bike, and be visible!