OFF THE WIRE
REGENT - Regent metal sculptor Gary Greff plans to build the world's biggest motorcycle and park it right on Regent's Main Street.
A motorcycle dwarfing anything that roars down the highway is about the right size for this small intense man who's already built seven larger-than-life sculptures on the Enchanted Highway outside Regent.
He hopes the world's largest motorcycle, measuring 102 feet from wheel to wheel and 42 feet from ground to handlebars will draw some of the thousands of black-leather clad bikers who take highways and byways down to the famous Sturgis Rally every summer.
"Bikers are always looking for a day trip from Sturgis (S.D.) and maybe we can entice them for an overnight stopover," he said.
Greff says he'll build the motorcycle next winter in Mark Stelter's shop in New Leipzig and assemble it for the summer of 2012.
That's awhile to wait, but anyone interested in the project can stop in Regent at the Cenex C-store and take a look at the genuine Harley-Davidson motorcycle that inspired the sculpture. Heck, they could even take a chance at owning it.
The 2003 Harley Deuce, with custom fenders, seat and wheels, will be given to the lucky winner of a raffle drawing. Raffle tickets cost $20 and proceeds from ticket sales will help pay for the world's largest motorcycle sculpture. Greff estimates the gigantic motorcycle will cost at least $100,000, twice the usual cost of his sculptures, because of the size of the sculpture and the quality of the metal he plans to use.
For now, the C-store is the only place tickets are sold, but Greff said Bismarck motorcycle clubs, including ABATE, have expressed interest in helping his cause in exchange for being named as sponsors.
His cause is the same as it's always been all these years of building and dreaming: to put his beloved Regent on the map in a way no other town in North Dakota has ever been.
He has succeeded beyond anyone's dreams, with his sculptures of grasshoppers, flying geese, strutting pheasants, leaping deer, and swimming fish set up at intervals on the 30 miles of paved road between Interstate 94 and Regent.
The motorcycle will be just one more draw, but to a specialized crowd, one that he imagines will get a kick out of posing alongside it for photographs with their own motorcycles.
Meanwhile, Greff is pounding away at another dream.
These days he's up at the former Regent Elementary School, which he purchased in December after the school board decided to use facilities at Mott for all the children.
He and his brother, Don Greff, have been transforming the classrooms into a 23-room motel, each with a compact kitchenette and bar.
Greff says the Enchanted Highway needs an overnight venue for travelers and so he is building them an Enchanted Castle. The school's locker rooms will become hot tub rooms and the lunchroom a lounge and restaurant.
The front of the former school will be fabricated to look like a castle with turrets and battlements and the foyer inside will be crafted to resemble a cobblestone street.
Greff said the goal is for the motel to generate money to support maintenance on the Enchanted Highway sculptures, which are free for the viewing, though some people stuff a few dollars into donation boxes out at the sites.
"I know we've got to turn revenue. We'll need someone to carry this on and we can't expect them to live on dreams. This is my dream," Greff said.
His Enchanted Highway corporation is selling shares in the castle project and borrowing money besides. Craftsmen willing to put sweat equity toward shares are welcome.
The Enchanted Castle will be open this fall, in time for hunting, and possibly for temporary housing if oil development moves into the county.
As he builds and dreams of castles and motorcycles, Greff lives very modestly in a small trailer in Regent, scrounging for dollars and dimes to keep his enchanted dream alive.
His cell phone rings and he holds up a just-a-minute finger. "Excuse me," he says, a wide grin flashing across his features. "Maybe it's a millionaire."
He always dreams large.
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/article_be853128-4117-11e0-8370-001cc4c03286.html
