by Kathleen Pulek

The roar, rumble and

burble of classic, custom
and vintage motorcycles
lled the air as the ninth
annual Motorcycle Mania
electried Middletowns
downtown area Wednesday,
Aug. 20. More than 5,000
bikes lined Main Street
from Washington Street to
the packed South Green, the
municipal parking garage
rooftop and the north end of
Main Street for the gather-
ing heralded as the largest
one-day summer bike event
in New England.
The weather makes
or breaks our attendance,
said Cathy Duncan, event
coordinator for the Middle-
sex Chamber of Commerce.
With excellent weather,
we have record numbers of
bikes and people, and all
proceeds will again support
local youth programs in the
city.
The bikes and the teem-
ing crowd arrived early and
stayed late.
We had the main gate
[on the south end of Main
Street] open until 5:45 or
6 p.m. The second gate
on lower Court Street was
opened at 5:45 p.m. and
when all parking was n-
ished at 7:30 p.m, people
were nding spaces by
themselves, said Duncan.
We had about 80 vol-
unteers, including 10 or
so from Liberty Bank and
about 20 of the Haymond
[Law] Girls. Rich Greco
is the event chairman and
Kent Levack is the coor-
dinator of volunteers. Ev-
eryone worked very hard
at this event, including the
whole staff at the Middlesex
Chamber.
Hunter Limousines,
Hunters Ambulance and the
Hunter Family once again
presented the event, held in
memory of founding spon-
sor Dan Hunter. Event spon-
sors included The City of
Middletown, Liberty Bank,
Eli Cannons Tap Room,
Charles Computer Services,
Middletown Downtown
Business District, Bank of
America, Haymond Law
Ofce, Gengras Motor-
cycles, Middlesex Music
Academy, Home Team Sup-
ply, Lyman Orchards Golf
Club, Avon Products Mid-
dletown, Fabian Associates
A Connecticut Casualty
Co., Mezzo Grille, Middle-
town Area Transit, Minute-
man Press, and Untouchable
Towing.
Musical stylings
throughout the evening in-
cluded Brandeds high-en-
ergy country, while Storm
Roller lled the air with
rock and roll. WMRD/
Middletowns Community Newspaper
Volume 13, Number 9
September 2014
Dont Miss a Thing
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Chronicled Chronicled
Cars & Cats
The first ever Fast and the Furriest
Car Show benefits the Cat Tales
rescue group.
Page 14
A New Waterview
The Middletown Riverfront
Redevelopment Commission has
published its final report.
Page 9
Page 26
Continued on page 15
Motorcycle Mania Revs Up Middletown
A wave of bikers arrive at the ninth annual Motorcycle Mania. Photo: Dave Burnham.
Neil Realty, Inc.
860-635-5974
Visit us at our location:
532 Main Street, Cromwell
or anytime at
www.century21neil.com
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Convenient location near shop-
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WLIS radio broadcast live from in front of
the Chamber ofce and DJ Les Beneld was
located in the South Green Gazebo.
The tempting fare of the many down-
town restaurants mingled with the offerings
from a variety of vendors to tantalize the
more than 12,000 people jammed into the
downtown area on a picture-perfect summer
evening.
George Ryan was among Motorcycle
Manias 51 vendors.
This is a great event and the weather
is just perfect, Ryan enthused. The bike
community is a very charitable group, so
were here to promote our Sept. 21 Motor-
cycle Ride and Zombie Biker Chili Cookoff
to benet the George N. Ryan Memorial
Scholarship Fund, established in memory of
my son who passed away in 2012 at age 19.
In the 14 months weve been in existence,
weve given away over $41,000 to help area
high school students attend college.
We start Sept. 21 with a short ride at
10:30 a.m. and then its back to the Middle-
town Elks Club on Maynard Road around
noon, when the general public will start com-
ing in. Weve got championship chili cooks
coming from all over New England for the
International Chili Society-sanctioned chili
cookoff, as well as Caribbean-style chef Je-
sus Ramos handling the pig roast.
Weve got Jeff Pitchell and Texas
Flood for music. Johnnie Moore from Fat
City Customs is helping organize the event
and will also have a couple of bikes on dis-
play. Weve got a bus lled with zombies,
ghouls and goblins coming to scare every-
body from the Trail of Terror in Walling-
ford. World-renowned custom bike
builder Eddie Trotta is coming up
from Florida to MC the show and
will have some of his bikes on dis-
play, continued Ryan.
Weve got layer upon layer of
good stuff. Well have all kinds of
entertainment so this will be a day
lled with all kinds of family fun
activities.
Milfords David Lamoureaux
elded a lot of questions about his
radical, one-of-a-kind 2005 Honda
VTX 1300R. It took me ve years
and two months, on and off, to
build the bike. When you put that
into a 40-hour work week, its re-
ally taken just over three months,
and thats not bad for a build of this
size.
I had to do everything myself
because Honda doesnt make parts
to customize this bike. Ive got an
air bag under the seat to lift the
whole bike up four inches off of
the ground so I can drive it away.
I had the transmission widened out
to accept the 300mm tire on the back be-
cause the biggest you can put on a Honda
is a 240mm. The eight-gallon gas tank and
all of the sheet metal are my own. I nally
decided to customize my own bike and Mo-
torcycle Mania is a great place to show the
kind of work I can do, said Lamoureux.
A beaming Larry McHugh of the Mid-
dlesex Chamber of Commerce said, Weve
got a fantastic turnout. We were hearing on
social media that we could see 5,000 bikes
tonight. Last year there were over 4,000.
Theyre really coming in now at 5:50 p.m.
Motorcycle Mania and our other
downtown events throughout the year are an
opportunity for the City of Middletown to
showcase its many ne restaurants and retail
shops in the beautiful downtown district.
This is a party. Middletown is rocking.
Look at the amount of people downtown.
Our restaurants are slow in the summer so
events like this bring in a lot of people. The
restaurants are doing really well. Its a tre-
mendous night for us. Well also see a lot
of these bikers come back during the fall
season. Theyll go out on a ride and then
come back to try the different restaurants,
and thats what we want, added McHugh.
Planning for the 2015 Motorcycle
Mania started ve minutes after the event
ended, Duncan added with a smile. Well
be having a wrap-up meeting soon and at
the same time, well start planning for next
year.
The Chronicle - September 2014 15
Chronicled
Main Street Hosts Annual Motorcycle Mania (Cont.)
From left, Johnnie Moore, Mariah Moore, George Ryan and Michael Freedman promote the upcoming Zombie
Biker Chili Cookoff benet on Sept. 21. Photo: Dave Burnham.
Matthew Shamas of Southington arrived in style on his beautiful ame-covered chopper. Photo: Dave Burnham.
Carlos and Onnica Ortiz represented New Britains Hard Hittn Riderz. Photo: Dave Burnham.
More than 5,000 motorcycles packed downtown Aug. 20. Photo:
Dave Burnham.
Raffe prize
compliments of
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Join us for the
2nd Annual
Purple Tape-In Hair Extension
Fundraiser Kick-Off Event
Monday, September 8
th
, 4-6pm
Waters Edge Center for Health & Rehabilitation
111 Church St., Middletown
Complimentary refreshments provided!
Please RSVP to Laura Falt 860.335.7526
or lfalt@nathealthcare.com
Salon Allure to apply purple temporary tape-in hair extensions, the color
supporting the cause to end Alzheimers! The cost is $20.00 (cash or
check only). All proceeds benet the Alzheimers Association Walk to
End Alzheimers

For those unable to make the kick-off event, Salon Allure will take ap-
pointments at the salon in the month of September. Please contact the
Salon directly at 860.346.4411.
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