This summer hasn’t given us very many warm and sunny days which makes the good ones more memorable. Last Saturday was one of the good days. The Wyoming Valley Motorcycle Club held its annual summer party at Konefal’s Grove, which for me is something of a home game as its right down the road from my house. This year was a really fun time, maybe perhaps because it was one of those memorable sunny days.
It was a bittersweet day since it reminds us that summer is almost over. There were old friends and a number of new friends on hand for the great food, good music and of course bike games. The grass was dry enough after a week-long period without rain to make the games fun and safe.
In the new friend category we got to hear the debut of a new band in the area, Pete St. James and the OCB. Members of this band are Pete St. James (guitar), Bobby Welsh (drums), Matt Scavone (bass) and Jamie Gallagher (vocals/percussion). They opened the festivities with renditions or covers of some old familiars with a jam twist to them. Pete tells me that they started with the concept of forming a more rock funk and blues sound, and they mix some of their own music with the cover songs. They really had everyone up and dancing. Their next gig will be Aug. 22 at the Chicken Coop and then August 28. at the Plymouth Kielbasa Festival. This is definitely a band worth seeing. Lots of great sounds.
Each band member brings with him years of experience with other bands and the talent to make this new band a rocking success. From the reaction of the crowd, I would say that this group bears watching in the future. Pete tells me, “We’re all true musicians, and we’re going to try to play the best venues we can get. We’d like to get out and play for anyone and everyone. We just want to get out”. He also says that “Jamie came last to the band, and he’s the total voice we need to round out the sound.”
Sitting alongside the games field was Virginia Olaviany, who came with her friends Nola and Tommy Lentz. She said that “We were up here the last couple of weeks and knew it was a party. Tommy is in the club.” Tommy is a five-year member of the club and hasn’t missed a summer party yet. He said, “It’s about time we got some decent weather; this has been the summer that wasn’t.” When asked why he comes to these outings, his reply was, “I’ve been to all of them, good people, good club. It’s all about the members having a good time.” He added, “This club does a lot of other good causes. This party is for the club. It’s a good time, and its fun.”
Next was the bike games. Bike games are fun ways to show off how well you can ride your bike and do something while riding. Sort of like an Olympic games. They are much slower in pace than a road race but just as fun. And again, this year the Hilstoskys swept the games.
The first game is the weenie bite. A hot dog is suspended from the crossbars, and the passenger has to see if they can bite the dog. The second game was the balloon toss. This is not as easy as it looks. The passenger on the back of the bike has to throw a balloon over a crossbar and catch it before it breaks over the driver of the bike. Everyone takes a turn, and each lap through they raise the bar, which adds an element of challenge to the game.
After the balloon toss was a game called roadkill. In this game, stuffed animals are placed along a route that the passenger sweeps up with a fishnet. The person that gets the most stuffed animals — roadkill — wins.
And the last and probably most popular game is the slow ride. Here, two bikers square off and race to the end of a prescribed line, and the slowest one wins. If you put your foot down, you lose!
After the games were done, Strawberry Jam took the stage and rocked the party until the evening was done. Just another fine Pennsylvania summer night with the waning moon in the sky.
As we head into autumn take time to relax, be with friends and listen to some local music. It’s the stuff that memories are made of.
w
| Tweet | Follow @wkdr |
|
|
