Even though summer time is winding down, the charity rides at Hot Metal Harley-Davidson were still going strong well into September. The first two weekends played host to two charity rides that benefited the Ronald McDonald House Charities and the Obediah Cole Foundation for Prostate Cancer Research.
On September 3rd, Hot Metal Harley-Davidson, Y108 Radio and Live Nation teamed up to benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities with our second ride out to The First Niagra Pavilion to see Toby Keith. Country music artists are generally big supporters of various charitable organizations, much like motorcyclists, so this ride was a perfect fit for everyone involved.
The $35 tickets were sold weeks in advance up to the day before, and included a catered lunch with a different Toby, the owner of Hot Metal Harley at the helm of the grill. Entertainment buy a local country music act, a full police escorted ride with Zeke from Y108 to Burgettstown, and VIP parking at the venue.
Zeke rolled in at 1PM to get the party started and took pictures and uploaded them to the Y108 website right from the party in the parking lot. Once we got our food on, we enjoyed music from the Kieger Band and drew the back stage pass winner.
The Allegheny County Sheriff's Department escort vehicles lead us on a flawless non-stop ride to The First Niagra Pavilion. Motorcycles two by two stretched for over a mile riding through back-country windy roads and small towns along the way. People came out to wave, we beeped our horns and the escorts kept the sirens on the whole way to the front gates for us.
Once we arrived at First Niagra, we had our very own lane into the venue while the other vehicles in line had to wait. They didn't seem to mind 125 motorcycles rumbling into the tailgating areas, and the people partying cheered us on as we pulled into our own corral where the bikes would be safely stored through the entire performance.
The following Saturday, September the 10th was the Man-Up and Ride Poker Run that Hot Metal Harley-Davidson put together for the Obediah Cole Foundation for Prostate Cancer Research. The charity was founded by former Steeler Robin Cole who made it to our HOG meeting the previous Wednesday to encourage riders to come on the ride and get screened for Prostate Cancer.
Robin and I also talked about the event on Hot Metal Harley-Davidson’s weekly radio show, Road Hogs with Rocky Marks on 102.5 WDVE and on Pittsburgh Today Live on KDKA-TV to raise awareness for both the foundation and the ride.
The poker run kicked off at 10AM with Robin and took riders all the way out to Hidden Valley via 51 to 136 to 31 with several stops along the way to pick up their cards. The ride coincided with Hot Metal’s Wide Open house and customers had a chance to get their blood screened on-site thanks to the foundation.
There was a Chinese Auction that included signed Steeler and Pirate memorabilia, including an autographed Harley-Davidson pub table and stools. A $250 gift card to Hot Metal Harley-Davidson was awarded to the best hand and a $100 gift card was given to the worst hand. At 4PM, Robin Cole was again on-hand for the drawings, he signed autographs, and thanked everyone for coming out to support the charity.
Charity is important to Hot Metal Harley-Davidson and we understand that raising money for a cause is just as important as raising awareness. When it comes to prostate cancer, we learned 1 in 6 men are at risk of being diagnosed. Over 230,000 men over the age of 40 are affected every year. This is right in line with the average age of Harley-Davidson riders, and why it makes sense for us to get behind these great causes.
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