Roaring for charity, 600 motorcyclists serenaded Old Mission Peninsula residents with distinctive Harley growls while helping needy area families and individuals.
Sunday's ride to the Lighthouse and back featured 450 bikes, topping a weekend of events that by Monday raised $15,500 for the Father Fred Foundation. The ride began at Classic Motor Sports and, with police escort, wound through town, out the peninsula and back and concluded at the VFW Hall on Veterans Drive, where breakfast was served.
"It's a 45-minute ride, a fast ride," said Dennis Koenig of Cedar, a Harley owner for five years who rode with his wife, Nancy. "We pulled out of Classic Motor Sports last year and the line went all the way to Meijer before everyone got out."
A Poker Run on Saturday drew 340 bikes while the evening's downtown showcase featured 400 Harleys plus a sprinkling of Hondas, BMWs and Yamahas. Riders — notable for their black leather attire — residents and tourists walked the closed blocks of Front and Cass streets downtown checking out the bikes.
"I'm tingly, tingly, tingly!" gushed Loretta Ludka of Traverse City, who attends the Saturday night showcase every year with her husband, Larry.
The couple also ducks out of church early Sunday morning every year — something they never do the other 51 weeks of the year — to watch and cheer on the snarling parade of motorcycles on the Peninsula.
"It gets me so excited, it's like seeing the flag," Ludka added. "We just love it, love the people."
Hosted by the Northern Chapter of the Harley Owners Group, organizers deemed the 14th Annual Charity HOG Motorcycle Ride a rousing success.
"The focus isn't really Harleys, but the Father Fred Foundation," noted Paul Jarboe, chapter director and organizer of the ride. "It really is our privilege and honor to do this for the Father Fred Foundation."
The funds raised, which topped last year's take by just over $3,000, will be used to help Foundation clients with food and emergency assistance. This assistance includes utility shutoffs, prescription medication help, transportation assistance and other situations that fall through the cracks of other organizations.
"It's really wonderful that the community groups are so committed to carry on Father Fred's mission that they embrace the opportunity to put on various fundraisers and the Harley Group and Classic Motor Sports are a good case in point," said Martie Manty, executive director of the Father Fred Foundation.
The Father Fred Foundation, which is open Tuesday through Friday, serves an average of 50-100 people a day in a year-round average. Clients span the spectrum of age and services needed, with everyone from young families to seniors participating each week. To avoid duplication of service, the Father Fred Foundation first requires that clients obtain a denial of services from the Department of Human Services and Northwest Michigan Human Services.
"Those two agencies have programs that offer assistance in some of the same areas as ourselves and we work together in that if they can't then we will or maybe we'll do a combination with them," noted Manty.
The Charity HOG Motorcycle Ride draws participants from around the region and state, gathering for a weekend to both ride and help a charity whose founder was an avid Harley man.
"I don't like riding in organized rides but I like this one," said Marco Yamuni of Gaylord Saturday night as he and a riding buddy scoped out all the bikes. "This is a nice place to park and hang out."