BELLE FOURCHE—With only fifteen members, the small but mighty Fire & Iron Motorcycle Station 118 has been working hard to raise money and support important causes in the local community. On Sunday, September 6, they hosted the Show Me Your Pink Poker Run for local cancer warriors.
The Poker Run was held to raise money for Dionne Walters, who grew up in Belle Fourche. “We’re basically doing a poker run, a rifle raffle, silent auction and stuff, raising money for Dionne Walters—she grew up in Belle Fourche,” explained Rik Bartels, president. “So we just try to raise money for people in the community that need some help.”
Fire & Iron Motorcycle Station 118 has been part of the local community since 2013. “Most MCs have chapters, we have stations—we’re made up of firefighters—current, active, or retired firefighters and support personnel. We are an international club that is fire-related with one chapter and that’s the original one, and everybody else is a station,” shared Bartels.
The members of Station 118 have made giving back to the local community a big part of what they do, raising thousands of dollars to help people and organizations in the area. “The last two poker runs we raised $27,000 in the last two years for a female going through some kind of cancer,” explained Bartels. “We do a meat raffle every winter, in the last five years, we raised $33,000 for the community. We’ve given to the Artemis House, Compassion Cupboard, Belle Fourche Volunteer Fire Department, Butte County Fire Protection Association and Belle Silver Linings was last year.”
For the members of Station 118, riding motorcycles and having fun goes hand in hand with giving back to the community. “I mean, to be honest, our mission is just ride motorcycles and have fun—but along the way we help out,” said Bartels.
The Poker Run gathered at the Moose Lodge before starting out on the ride and reconvened there after the ride was over. The Moose had food and drinks available to fuel up on before heading out on the 145-mile ride. “The Moose opens their doors to us and lets us come in—they work really well with us, and they help us a lot, so it just works out,” said Bartels.
There were five different stops on the Poker Run. Kickstands went up at 11 a.m. with the first stop at Lumpy’s in Central City. Then it was on to Tin City Saloon in Hill City followed by a stop at Nemo Mercantile in Nemo. The Poker Run then continued on to BrewBerry Bistro in Sturgis. One last stop was St. Onge Bar in St. Onge before heading back to the Moose Lodge in Belle Fourche. “A lot of poker runs you draw a card at each stop. We don’t do that, we draw them all back here and then the best poker hand wins.”
While everyone headed out on the ride around the same time, each participant was able to take the route at a pace they felt comfortable riding. “With a group this big, it’s not mandatory [to stay together]. It’s just too many people and you got different rider experiences with everybody and you know, we try to be safe,” shared Bartels.
The Belle Fourche Volunteer Fire Department’s big purple fire truck led Fire & Iron Station and the Poker Run participants through town as they set off on their ride. The plan was to meet back at the Moose Lodge at 6 p.m. to determine the winning poker hands, select the 50/50 drawing winner and award the silent auction items to the highest bidders.
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