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Motorcycle rally here is positive event, organizers say
CANFIELD
Promoters of a motorcycling association event at the Canfield Fairgrounds this week say enthusiasts shouldn’t hesitate to attend.
They say the event here is in no way similar to last month’s meeting of rival motorcycle clubs that led to nine people being killed and 18 wounded in Waco, Texas.
The Gold Wing Road Riders Association is having its annual Buckeye Rally from Thursday through Saturday at the fairgrounds, to which the event will return next year and possibly in 2017.
“There will not be anything like that,” said Roy Jones of New Springfield, GWRRA Northeast Ohio assistant director, referring to the Waco incident. “We’re not a gang. We are a chapter of a social organization,” he added.
“They should never hesitate to attend a Gold Wing function,” his wife, Becky Jones, also a GWRRA Northeast Ohio assistant director, said of motorcyclists. The association is “family-oriented,” she added.
“We’re not at odds with anyone,” she said. “We promote fun, safety and knowledge.”
In more than three decades of state and regional GWRRA rallies, “There’s never been another group come in to cause trouble,” Becky Jones said.
Some 300 people already have signed up to attend this week’s event, Roy Jones said.
The Buckeye Rally generally attracts 600 to 700 attendees, Becky Jones said.
With more than 72,000 members in more than 800 chapters worldwide, GWRRA is a 38-year-old, nonprofit social organization for owners and riders of Honda Gold Wing and Valkyrie motorcycles.
“I feel very positive about this group. I’m not concerned at all” about violence erupting at the Canfield event, said Linda Macala, director of the Mahoning County Convention and Visitors’ Bureau, which has been helping the association organize and promote the Canfield event.
“They are a long-established group. They are dedicated to family, safety, having fun and community service,” Macala added.
Although some participants will camp at the fairgrounds, others will stay in local hotels, and many will dine in local restaurants, shop here and fuel their motorcycles here, thereby giving the local economy a boost, Macala said.
“I don’t believe there’s any reason to be concerned” about confrontations at the Canfield event, said county Prosecutor Paul J. Gains, a motorcyclist and instructor in state-sponsored motorcycle-safety courses.
“Waco was a meeting of several rival gangs. This is not a meeting of several rival gangs. This is a rally,” Gains said, adding that he’s never seen any trouble erupt at other Mahoning Valley motorcycle rallies.
No alcoholic beverages will be sold or served at the fairgrounds event, and GWRRA rules prohibit sale or service of alcoholic drinks at association events, Roy Jones said.
“Motorcycles and alcohol don’t mix,” his wife said.
All motorcyclists are welcome to attend the Canfield rally, regardless of what brands of motorcycles they ride, Roy Jones said.
The Canfield rally will feature a motorcycle show; a motorcycle light show and lighted motorcycle parade; a low-speed, precision-riding maneuvering exercise on an obstacle course; displays by vendors of motorcycling gear; live musical entertainment; and seminars on safety and other topics.
The event also will feature guided motorcycling tours through Mill Creek Park and to the Noah’s Lost Ark animal sanctuary in Berlin Center and the Pymatuning Lake fish hatchery.
Association members will bring canned food to the rally to be donated to Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley.
The Joneses are directors of the local GWRRA Chapter M Buckeye Travelers, which regularly gathers at 5 p.m. on the fourth Saturday of each month at the Yankee Kitchen restaurant, 6635 Market St., Boardman.