The 2017 Memorial Run made its way from Pomeroy through Middleport and out Bradbury Road, before traveling through Rutland and Harrisonville on its way back to Pomeroy. These photos show the run as it traveled out Bradbury Road near the former Bradbury Elementary.
POMEROY — The pavement steamed. The sun was shining and turning everyone’s skin red. Rock n’ roll music played throughout the patrons clad in black, leather, and an array of bandannas. An assortment of many groups made up one entity.
Despite the rainy forecast, crowds of bikers, and onlookers, packed the Pomeroy parking lot, Main Street and side streets over the weekend to take part in the three-day festivities of the 32nd annual Memorial Run.
The run is the largest of its kind in Southeast Ohio.
Memorial Day is the time to reflect upon the soldiers who fought and who have fallen in war. One way to execute respect is participating in an event filled with honor with one’s brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, daughters, and sons.
Los Cuervos motorcycle club member, Chelsea Neutzling, a first time participate in the Memorial Day Run, expressed the importance of taking time out of one’s day to remember because demonstrating remembrance is a solid way to give gratitude towards fallen soldiers. Neutzling and her husband gave a special acknowledgement for her husband’s Uncle Sonny.
Los Cuervos along with many other motorcycle clubs and individual motorcyclists demonstrated their respect by giving an example of an alliance stronger than friendship, rather a familial bond with those they ride alongside.
Dustin Johnson, who has been riding in the Memorial Day Run off and on since 2007, told of his interest in the run at an early age. When he was a young, his mother would bring him down to watch his father participate in the run. Some years later, he and his mother began riding alongside his father.
Johnson expressed the importance of Meigs County hosting this run because it exemplifies support for past and present. He gave a special acknowledgement to his maternal Grandpa Thoma and paternal Grandpa Johnson.
As departure time approached, Meigs County Sheriff Keith Wood conferred with the pack leader about routes and safety.
From a sheriff’s cruiser, Wood led the procession through the riverside villages.
The mass of motorcycles took well over 15 minutes to fully depart the levee, as riders stretching from one end of the parking lot to the other along Main Street waited patiently.
All styles and engine sizes were represented, including novelty bikes, ‘trikes,’ even a go-cart.
Festivities began Friday afternoon with OASIS praise band, followed by DJ Kip and local classic rock band Blitzkrieg on Saturday; Heaven’s Saints Motorcycle Ministry performed “bike blessings” on the Riverwalk, praying for safety of both rider and machine.
Erin Perkins and Michael Hart are freelance writers for The Daily Sentinel
