JEFFERSON — Bikers like three things: motorcycling, motorcycling in groups and getting together for a good cause.
“The accident was 15 years ago, but before that he was a big biker — any kind of toy run, fun run,” Melanie Ramsey said of her dad, Charles “Boo” Chaler, namesake and host for the annual Boo Benefit and biker rally.
The 15th annual event swelled Jefferson’s population by about 40,000 people this weekend, organizers said.
Chaler’s burns from an industrial accident remain apparent on his face and elsewhere. But, the spirit that inspired his friends to throw the first Boo Benefit in his support — Ramsey said they sneaked her dad out of the LSU Regional Burn Center to attend the first one — is more than skin deep.
The event has raised more than $2.2 million for the Shreveport-based Percy Johnson Burn Foundation, Shriners Children’s Burn Hospital in Galveston and the Chaler-Rods House where families can live nearby the member undergoing treatment in Shreveport. Funds also pay for young burn patients to attend Camp I’m Still Me in East Texas , where 16-year-old Carlea Humphries went for the seventh time this past summer.
“It’s more than just a camp to a lot of people,” the
Bossier City teen said, as she and five or six other members of the 400-strong
volunteer Boo Crew matched ticket stubs with proceeds in a room off East Austin
Street. “I consider everyone there my family. It’s a different kind of
connection. They understand — they know what you go through.”
From the Jefferson Depot just outside, west to the old watering trough at Lafayette and Market streets, participants demonstrated their love of getting together.
“We come every year,” Jim West of Hope, Ark., said, leaning next to Lori Cox on his fuel-injected, 1,832-cubic centimeter Honda Rune. “It’s just a place to go and ride and see a lot of bikes and meet a lot of people.”
The couple smiled as a passer-by asked to snap either their picture or one of the bike.
“You go right ahead,” West told the photographer, before adding another item to the trio of things bikers love: “We ride to eat — any excuse to ride, and any excuse to eat.”
In addition to good eats, which included festival fare and plates offered by the former port city’s restaurants, Boo Benefit revelers bit into so-called scooter games, a Saturday night Biker Ball, more than 100 vendors with leathers, knives, clothes, other biker paraphernalia and live music on three stages.
Harleys, Hondas and maybe a classic Indian or two lined every east-west street three-deep by Saturday afternoon. More were coming and going, evidenced by short caravans of two-wheelers cruising up and down U.S. 59.
“This is our first,” Christina Switzler of Decatur said as she and her husband, Mike, soaked in the sounds with friends who have been to several Boo Benefits. “It’s for the camaraderie.”
Billy “Jersey” Guynup of Allen said he traveled with 26 friends.
“Several of us have been here — this is our sixth year in a row,” he said, taking his time with a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone on Austin Street. “And every year it gets better. It’s a good cause, great people and a cool town. It’s so welcoming.”
In between fetching armloads of paper towels and mounting the Marion County Courthouse steps to announce the day’s awards, Chaler declared the 15th rally a hit.
“It is looking great,” the Woodlawn resident said. “We’ll probably do better than last year, and last year they estimated $35,000 to $40,000 (was raised). It’s busy, but we enjoy every minute of it. Everybody has a good time. We just want everyone to have a good time in a safe way.”
The only thing scary about the Boo Benefit this year is it could be the next-to-the-last one. Chaler said the committee that works year-round on the event is considering options beyond 2014.
“This thing just gets so huge to be just a family-operated event,” he said. “We ask so much of the people involved. Our committee works endlessly to get this thing together. We have some options — we’ll see.”
Perhaps they’ll pray about that at today’s 10 a.m. worship service downtown.
Darrell and Janet Mathews of Ringgold, La., looked a little worshipful as they leaned against a live oak with their son, Jason, in the shade of Otstott Park.
“This is our fifth one,” the husband said, bringing up a fifth thing bikers love. “That’s the only reason I come is to look at these bikes and see if I see something I don’t already have.”
http://www.news-journal.com/news/local/a-scary-good-time-bikers-others-flood-jefferson-for-annual/article_6fce84c6-3e60-570b-9e97-c0595f13dc2a.html
From the Jefferson Depot just outside, west to the old watering trough at Lafayette and Market streets, participants demonstrated their love of getting together.
“We come every year,” Jim West of Hope, Ark., said, leaning next to Lori Cox on his fuel-injected, 1,832-cubic centimeter Honda Rune. “It’s just a place to go and ride and see a lot of bikes and meet a lot of people.”
The couple smiled as a passer-by asked to snap either their picture or one of the bike.
“You go right ahead,” West told the photographer, before adding another item to the trio of things bikers love: “We ride to eat — any excuse to ride, and any excuse to eat.”
In addition to good eats, which included festival fare and plates offered by the former port city’s restaurants, Boo Benefit revelers bit into so-called scooter games, a Saturday night Biker Ball, more than 100 vendors with leathers, knives, clothes, other biker paraphernalia and live music on three stages.
Harleys, Hondas and maybe a classic Indian or two lined every east-west street three-deep by Saturday afternoon. More were coming and going, evidenced by short caravans of two-wheelers cruising up and down U.S. 59.
“This is our first,” Christina Switzler of Decatur said as she and her husband, Mike, soaked in the sounds with friends who have been to several Boo Benefits. “It’s for the camaraderie.”
Billy “Jersey” Guynup of Allen said he traveled with 26 friends.
“Several of us have been here — this is our sixth year in a row,” he said, taking his time with a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone on Austin Street. “And every year it gets better. It’s a good cause, great people and a cool town. It’s so welcoming.”
In between fetching armloads of paper towels and mounting the Marion County Courthouse steps to announce the day’s awards, Chaler declared the 15th rally a hit.
“It is looking great,” the Woodlawn resident said. “We’ll probably do better than last year, and last year they estimated $35,000 to $40,000 (was raised). It’s busy, but we enjoy every minute of it. Everybody has a good time. We just want everyone to have a good time in a safe way.”
The only thing scary about the Boo Benefit this year is it could be the next-to-the-last one. Chaler said the committee that works year-round on the event is considering options beyond 2014.
“This thing just gets so huge to be just a family-operated event,” he said. “We ask so much of the people involved. Our committee works endlessly to get this thing together. We have some options — we’ll see.”
Perhaps they’ll pray about that at today’s 10 a.m. worship service downtown.
Darrell and Janet Mathews of Ringgold, La., looked a little worshipful as they leaned against a live oak with their son, Jason, in the shade of Otstott Park.
“This is our fifth one,” the husband said, bringing up a fifth thing bikers love. “That’s the only reason I come is to look at these bikes and see if I see something I don’t already have.”
http://www.news-journal.com/news/local/a-scary-good-time-bikers-others-flood-jefferson-for-annual/article_6fce84c6-3e60-570b-9e97-c0595f13dc2a.html