The Blessing at the Beach is the New London Motorcycle Club’s
largest charity event. Being an outdoor event, its success is highly affected
by the weather and yet it has continued to get bigger and better. This year’s
turn-out is estimated at about 800 motorcyclists, including some of the vendors
and the NLMC club members working at the event.
The weather on the day prior to the event was perfect, but on
the morning of the event the skies were heavily overcast. This made for a slow
start, but as the sun burned through, the riders started to come in and they
didn’t stop until the end of the event.
There were a good variety of vendors on hand selling custom-made
dew rags, fleece-lined bandanas, leather goods, jewelry and pins, personal
protection items, specialized bike cleaning agents, aftermarket seats and
parts, and not one, but two vendors selling and sewing on patches during the
event. All of the major motorcycle dealerships were present as well as a vendor
of specialized trailers that did double duty as a camper. Both of the major law
firms had booths at the event and were handing out their ride guides for the
season as well as other freebies.
In addition to the vendors, booths were set up by other
organizations such as the Patriot Guard, the Full Throttle Biker Church and the
Babies Heart Run among others.
The Square One band performed all of our favorites throughout
the event and the addition of a “sound man” made a big difference. A good sized
crowd developed on the balcony of the bar and restaurant to enjoy the live
music and scenic coastline.
As in previous events, the NLMC Drill Team performed a few
drills and played “Follow the Leader” through some closely spaced orange cones.
Unbelievable, but true, I did see Mike Henry drop his bike at one point, but he
was up and riding before I could get a photo.
There were fewer entries into the Bike Show this year than
last with only five bikes competing for the top three awards. There were a
number of bikes in the parking lot that could have provided some stiff
competition.
The flow of bikes out of the parking lot to be blessed was noticeably
smoother and more orderly this year thanks to the direction of Dale Adams and
his crew. And to the motorcyclists who patiently waited for their turn to
depart. And to Father ______, who agreed to try something new this year; bless
two rows of bikes at the same time.
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| Who's that with the Ape Hangers? |
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| A chopped Honda Magna! |
This year’s event was a great success thanks to the
participation of many members and some non-members who volunteered their time and services. Special mention goes to Dan
Dunn who organized the event, Paul Neves who handled the vendors and
advertising and Jason Moran who handled T-Shirt advertisers and sponsors.
I know they are already working on ways to make the 2015 event
even better. One change already discussed is to make the second Sunday in April
the permanent date for the event each year. So if you didn’t make it this year,
make note of the date for next year and we’ll see you there.
