The rumble of revving bikes and the distinctive scent of gasoline will permeate downtown Brookings on June 22 as motorcycle enthusiasts roll into Brookings for the annual Sioux River ABATE Ride Through and Dyno-Shoot Out event.
Nick Norgaard is vice president of the Sioux River chapter of ABATE A Brotherhood for Awareness, Training and Education and says theyve got a full day of activities planned.
Were going to have a poker run in the morning, and thats going to go around the local area, Norgaard said. Then after the poker run, were all going to meet back up on Main Street just outside of Skinners for registration, and were going to do a motorcycle show.
Registration for the poker run starts at 10 a.m. outside Rays Corner, and the bike show will start at 5 p.m.
Well be doing games with motorcycles. Theres going to be a trailer thats going to do like dyno-testing, which tests the horsepower of the motorcycle, Norgaard said. Its a trailer. You strap the motorcycle down, and then theres a roller on the bottom of where the back wheel is. And the harder that you spin it, the more horsepower you have.
Theyll be giving out award plaques in five categories to the bikers who achieve the highest horsepower ratings. Theres a cost of $50 for two runs in the dyno-shoot, which is sponsored by Rays Corner.
Then well have a burn out trailer. Valley Motorsports is giving away a free tire to the winner of the best burn out, Norgaard said. Theres always a couple guys that will run em until they blow out.
The bike games are scheduled from 6 to 7:30 p.m., and awards will be given out at 8:15 p.m.
I know a lot of the downtown businesses are going to have food specials, Norgaard said. And we just want everybody downtown to do well. I mean, its not just for us. This is for everyone.
The ride through event itself takes place at Skinners Pub at 8:30 p.m.
To ride through the bar at Skinners, its going to be $20, Norgaard said. And then if you buy a membership, its $25. And then if you pay to go on the poker run, you get to do the ride through for free.
Membership in Sioux River ABATE supports various events and activities throughout the year.
We are an organization that is focused on education and training, and also motorcycle rights, Norgaard said. So we are advocates for bikers having their choice of, you know, wearing protective equipment, making sure everyone gets the proper training for being able to ride a motorcycle, and also we focus a lot on people not getting discriminated against or profiled.
He said they try to do outreach with young people also.
Another program that we do is called Share the Road, Norgaard said. We go in, and we talk to drivers ed students about wearing proper safety equipment on a motorcycle, and looking out for motorcycles. Its just a really good program. And we pay for three people to go through motorcycle safety programs. Then we have a scholarship, too, that we give away to members kids or really anyone that wants to put in for the scholarship.
Theyre also currently raising money for Safety Town a program where kids ages five through seven learn pedestrian and motor safety.
We also do have a meat raffle going on, Norgaard said. And were donating 100 percent of the profits to Safety Town in Brookings. Theres seven prizes, the tickets are $20 apiece, and were only selling 250. The drawing will be whenever all of the tickets are sold.
If people want to purchase raffle tickets, Norgaard said they can contact him through Facebook or by calling 605-651-9043.
Were trying to give back to the community as much as possible, Norgaard said. Were trying to get everything built back up again. Our chapter kind of shrunk down a little bit here probably ten years ago. Hopefully it can start coming back again.
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