4 minute read
STE Powersports Customer Appreciation Day
by: lIncoln InfIeld
te poWersports throWs a big shindig eaCh year to
thank their friends and customers and show them a good time. This year’s event was planned for April and fell victim of rainy spring weather. Rain is every event’s kryptonite, but the folks at STE Powersports bounced back and rescheduled their event for May 22 and, lucky for me, I had the date open and was able to attend.
STE has a huge front parking lot on a service road that is highly visible from I-40 in Statesville, NC, a great place to hold an event. They had a ton of their pre-loved motorcycles parked on the lot and vendors lining the parking lot. There was a big ole cooker smokin away on the side of the lot that had my mouth watering all day long. Since it was a customer appreciation party, the grub was also free! The Carolinas’ Full Throttle Magazine was on hand to help with the bike show since STE had their hands full with slingin free cold beers, selling raffle tickets and talkin shop. There was plenty of events going on that day, but the riders kept pouring into STE to hang out and the bike show parking area got filled up pretty quick and we had to extend the parking area. It was a people’s choice bike show, and we were selling tickets for bike show votes. The cash that we raised was gonna be split between the most popular motorcycle and Twisted Covenant MSC Children’s Advocacy Charity work, so it was really a win win type of bike show.
The crowd and the bike show participants were overly generous and were shoveling money towards the bike show voting. The Staff at STE was awesome as well, Sales Manager Clyde Eller was a jack of all trades that day and his wife, Scottie was handling the beer cooler and raffles. Owner Chuck Hilton was making announcements and making sure everything ran smoothly. STE sales staff were EVERYWHERE helping with the odds and ends of the event. One of STE’s sales staff, Tonk, was posted up with me under the bike show tent and helped me keep all the tickets, entries, and my math straight. There were a ton of really nice-looking rides and honestly, I was glad I didn’t have to judge them. There was a beautiful red shovelhead Super Glide, some tricked out Street Glides, CVOs, and ton of bikes dripping with custom paint. Nitro Harley Pilot, Janette Thornley; the ‘Nitro Granny’, even stopped by and put her super clean Evo FXR in the bike show.
While the bikes were pulling in, the cooker was putting out the sweet smell of grilled meat and everyone was hitting up the vendors, Bongo Bach Soul Ensemble was cranking out
tunes. Bongo has been rocking biker events for years and he and the Soul Ensemble put on a hell of a show. They played a ton a great classic rock tunes and put their own spin on some of Led Zeppelin and other staples of the rock world. If ya see Bongo Bach’s name pop up at an event, you are in for an auditory treat.
As the time neared to announce the bike show winners, folks piled in to buy their last-minute votes. We ended up raising $480 total to split with the bike show winner and the Twisted Covenant MSC charity. Fifty votes gave Wesley Lytton Fourth Place with his clean 1999 H-D Softail, truly the epitome of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Third place, with 79 votes went to Dale Hosking, who rode in on a gorgeous 2017 H-D Breakout with custom skull and flames paint job. Second place went to Stephen Seals who received 227 votes on his 2021 H-D Road Glide. The First-place trophy, $240, two tickets to June Jam Bike Rally and the Best In Show title went to Tim Millsaps who received a whopping 267 votes for his gorgeous 2003 H-D CVO Road King.
Congrats yall!
It was a great day on the lot at STE Powersports for their Customer Appreciation Day. Huge thanks to all the vendors, Bongo Bach Soul Ensemble, the bike show entrants, spectators and the staff of STE. It was a great group effort to have a big day and help out a charity. We’ll see ya out there on the road and if you are looking for more great events like this, keep your eyes on the Carolinas’ Full Throttle Magazine Cruisin’ Calendar.
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