Kathy Mellott
kmellott@tribdem.com
—
An Anabaptist minister was trying to save lost biker souls on Saturday, the third day of the Thunder in the Valley motorcycle rally.
But one vendor complained that the message and how it was being delivered were hurting his business.
Police asked Steve McCrae, an Anabaptist minister from Johnstown, to move his portable metal pulpit away from the Point Stadium area.
When he refused, they let him and fellow minister Allen Russell to continue to urge people to “turn away sin.”
“We’re definitely part of Thunder in the Valley,” said McCrae, 27.
He disagreed that the preaching was impacting on vendor business, especially Bailey Concessions of Hollidaysburg, in front of which he stood.
Donnie Whitfield, one of the vendor’s employees, disagreed.
“We were busy. It isn’t busy now,” Whitfield said. “They’ve been here since 1 p.m.”
Across from Central Park, bikers were stopping into a New Age shop that opened a few days before Thunder and offered a 15-minute fortune reading for $20.
“They’re coming in. They seem to like it,” said owner Nancy Compton.
Some of Compton’s customers were seeking hypnosis to help with problems that included smoking, weight loss, pain management, and fears and phobias.
McCrae and Compton illustrated the diversity among the hundreds of thousands of people, mostly bikers, who are in the city as part of the 13th annual Thunder in the Valley, which has grown to a four-day weekend.
Saturday was relatively trouble-free, said Johnstown Police Capt. Andrew Frear. His biggest concern was disorderly conduct and public drunkenness arrests.
“It’s been pretty quiet,” Frear said of the crowd, which he said was “up some,” from last year.
Saturday’s clear skies and warm temperatures likely played a role in the large crowd, organizers said.
As in past years, this year’s Thunder brought in bikers and bike lovers from a wide area of western and central Pennsylvania and surrounding states.
Michael Tesa, a rider and music lover for more than 40 years, came from Greenfield, Wis. He said Thunder is so much fun that he walked away from a 10-day music festival on Lake Michigan to come to Johnstown.
“I like it so much I forfeited the festival to come here,” Tesa said.
Most others didn’t travel quite so far.
Daniel Yahnert rode down from Mineral Point with his family trailing in a separate vehicle. He hopes to turn his 21-month-old grandson, Lance Masser, into a Harley rider.
Harrisburg residents Jim Campbell and Albert Root, who have been to Sturgis, S.D., for one of the best known and oldest biker festivals, said Thunder just keeps getting better.
“I think it’s the atmosphere. It’s very well organized. It’s not congested,” Root said.
Two nonbikers, Dave and Kim Hirko of Jackson Township, were reflective of the hundreds of volunteers who turned out to make the event possible.
The Hirkos were manning an information booth a half block from Central Park.
People stopped seeking maps or answers to questions, Kim Hirko said.
Some wanted directions to the Flight 93 memorial or information about bands that are playing.
“We had a couple biker questions and I didn’t know how to answer those,” Dave Hirko said.
The event winds down today.
