Bikers rolled into Baker City from across the country on a sunny Friday, July 7 to participate in the 24th-annual Baker City Motorcycle Rally, which continued through Sunday.

The rally, complete with street vendors, nonprofit organizations and biker clubs, brings hundreds of participants every year to take in Baker City sights and explore the region’s byways and highways.

Dannica Robin, the owner of Shameless Tees, the Main Street business that took on the rally after the previous sponsor bowed out, said that bringing riders to town is her favorite thing. While she doesn’t ride herself, Robin loves bikers and says they “definitely have a family connection” with each other.

Before the pandemic, around 7,000 bikers made their way to Baker each year. For this year’s event, the second since the rally was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, organizers were hoping to reach those numbers again.

Although participants chose their own rides, the rally featured seven potential routes, the longest being the “Oregon Ironbutt,” a loop out to Klamath Falls and back. Robin said on Friday that no one had signed up for it yet, but she was sure a biker would be up for the task.

Like many other bikers, Lisa Mendoza and Kenny Culp traveled to Baker City to enjoy the freedom and clear-headedness that riding their Harleys offers.

“You don’t know how a dog feels til you get on a motorcycle,” Mendoza said. “You don’t feel like you need to talk to anybody.”

Culp, who has been riding motorcycles since 2003, was excited to take on dozens of turns in a 14-mile stretch on the Little Dragon ride up Dooley Mountain. While he says he’s only been on a few rides, he is excited to keep coming back to ride in Baker.

“We’ll see what the years bring,” he says.

The roads are the attraction

“I didn’t come here to hang out. I came here to ride my bike,” Mike “Backwoods” Felton said on Friday morning. This was Felton’s second year at the Baker City rally; last year he won $560 in the poker run.

Contestants in the poker run document their progress on the route by taking pictures at predetermined checkpoints. Each checkpoint will reward them with a card until they complete their five-card hand. Felton says he hopes to make some money this year by doing the thing he loves: riding his bike.

He showcased his Indian-brand motorcycle, which he said cost only $2,000 less than his house. Draped in matte-black paint, the bike comes equipped with bells to “scare the (expletive) outta gremlins” as he puts it.

Gremlin bells, which are used by bikers to ward off gremlins that try to pull down bikers to hell, were originally used by American and British pilots in World War II to, believe it or not, also repel gremlins.

According to Felton, gremlin bells must be gifted, not purchased. He says that he once gave out several bells to his friends hoping he’d get one in return. However, after receiving none, his old lady and his best friend gave him several.

Felton, like many bikers, dons a leather jacket adorned with patches. Each one represents something of great importance to Felton, including an American flag, his biker name patch, and one adorned with the phrase “I’d rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6.”

Felton explains that this patch signifies he’d rather be tried by a 12-person jury than be unable to protect himself and his family as he gestures to his concealed handgun.

While riders enjoyed the freedom of the roads around Eastern Oregon, some stayed behind to work their booths. Members of the Blue Mountain Chapter of the Bikers Against Child Abuse (B.A.C.A.) charitable organization informed passers-by about their work.

“We wanna help kids not be afraid of the world that we exist in,” says Chubz, vice president of the Blue Mountain B.A.C.A. chapter.

B.A.C.A. is an international organization that works to empower children who are victims of abuse. Each chapter assists with obtaining therapy, sends members that accompany children to court and parole hearings, and provides protection if need be.

While other vendors and charitable organizations were working their booths on Main Street, Brandy Bruce and the Shameless Tees crew was making sure the rally went off without a hitch.

Bruce, the retired founder of Shameless Tees and organizer of the rally, said many community members stopped by to tell how great it is that the rally is staying in Baker City. Bruce says attendance more than doubled from last year, which was organized with little advance notice, and that organizers are “hoping to triple it next year.”

Bruce said she is already planning with the larger community to bring the 2024 rally closer to pre-pandemic levels of attendance.

She said the event would not be what it is without support from local residents.

“It’s everybody’s,” she said.

“I didn’t come here to hang out. I came here to ride my bike.”

— Mike “Backwoods” Felton