Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Bike Fest to benefit bay area kids

The day features music, celebrities, a bike show and a block party .

By TERRI BRYCE REEVES
Published November 18, 2006

PALM HARBOR - A toy ride, motorcycle show and block party highlight Old Palm Harbor's fourth annual Fall Bike Fest today.

Mark Lunsford, father of Jessica Lunsford, the 9-year-old abducted from their Homosassa home and slain last year, will lead the toy ride. Since his daughter's death, Lunsford has been actively pushing for tougher laws covering sex offenders.

Motorcycle celebrity Radical Randy, from the Born to Ride television show, will host the block party.

The ride begins at noon when the easy riders convene at the Kmart in Tarpon Springs at U.S. 19 and Tarpon Avenue. Officers from the Tarpon Springs police and the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office will escort the band of bikers.

First, though, the bikes must be blessed.

At 11:45 a.m., Pastor Joe Peterson of the Christ Church of Palm Harbor will perform the ritual. Then black leather jackets and rumbling engines will leave Kmart, wind around the bayou and down Alt. 19 to downtown Palm Harbor.

The block party after the ride is open to the public. It will continue until 10 p.m. on Florida Avenue in Palm Harbor. There will be live music, featuring High Tides and Red Hawk, food, beer, vendors and a bike show.

The bike show will cover several categories, ranging from individual street bikes to radical custom motorcycles. The entry fee to compete is $10.

All toys will go to needy children in the Tampa Bay area. They will be distributed through the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program. More than 875 motorcyclists participated in the first toy ride last year, which brought in more than 900 toys and more than $250 in cash for the purchase of toys.

The block party is free and presented by Old Palm Harbor Main Street, a group trying to restore and renovate the Historic Palm Harbor District.

For more information, contact Kathy Govola at 727 787-4700 or ophms@verizon.net or online at palmharbormainstreet.com.

[Last modified November 17, 2006, 23:03:35]