Annual Blessing of the Bikes draws out hundreds, includes wedding and memorial ride to honor soldierJaclyn BrenningDaily Egyptian
Surrounded by rolling hills and mist, beneath a 111-foot white cross, two Thompsonville residents exchanged marriage vows amidst family and friends Sunday morning. Their wedding attire - black leather jackets and chaps.
The place was the 14th annual Blessing of the Bikes at Bald Knob Cross in Alto Pass, and for newlyweds Mike and Dale McClure, there was no better way celebrate their happy day.
"We like to ride," Mike said. "And it's a beautiful place."
Hundreds of bikers and locals gathered at the cross to start off the motorcycle-riding season with a blessing and prayer for safety. Some came from as far as Wisconsin, while others lived a mile away.
Brian Lenich, an ordained minister and a member of Carterville's Lords Paheece, the local chapter of the Christian Motorcycle Association, said it was the first wedding he remembered at the event although the ceremony was only one item on the day's agenda.
There was free food, including "Road Kill Stew," music and after every group of motorcycles came up the hill, there was a prayer for a safe trip home and a safe upcoming year riding motorcycles. There was also a memorial ride to honor Lance Cpl. Kyle Price, a marine from Woodlawn who died in Iraq earlier this year, as well as all veterans.
Some bikers said they came for the religious experience.
"It's just really spiritual," said Cynthia Lucas, co-owner of the Root Beer Saloon in Alto Pass and a biker for years. "Motorcycle riders joining hands - there is so much comradery here."
Daniel Mueth, a junior from Herrin studying electrical engineering, said he has attended the blessing event for about five years. He said he likes getting style ideas for his motorcycle by looking at other bikes and talking with people.
Whether people are Christians or non-Christians matters little, he said. In the end everybody is a biker and almost everybody who attended the event had at least one thing in common. Whether it was a Honda, Harley-Davidson or a 1969 bike pieced together in a garage, Mueth said almost everybody there loved motorcycles.
Chapter members at the gate Sunday said they counted more than 400 bikes and 750 people at the event at 1 p.m. The number was lower than previous years, where records show estimates of several thousand people. Some members said the rain and storm clouds Sunday morning might have kept people away, although as the afternoon went on, motorcycles continued to climb the winding roads up to Bald Knob Cross.
Some thought the event broke stereotypes many people associate with motorcycle riders, such as tattoos, fights and profanity. Instead, many bikers had small wooden crosses around their necks and wore shirts with religious symbols.
Frank Caruso, a member of the association's prayer ministry team and an assistant administrator at Franklin Hospital, said events such as the Blessing of the Bikes are rare in the motorcycle world.
"We still wear dew rags, and we still wear leather," he said. "I think all motorcycle riders have a rebellious trait, too. But it's different here. Here bikers have an opportunity to show their love of the world and their love of riding and not be judged."
