Published: May 21, 2008 10:44 pm         

Rainelle ready to welcome bikers

20th anniversary of Run for the Wall

RAINELLE — In 1988, when West Virginia Turnpike officials refused to allow about 50 motorcyclists to prepay their tolls and ride through the gates all at once — the bikers didn’t want to snarl traffic — they had no idea of the history they were about to make in the town of Rainelle about 50 miles away.

As every Rainelle Elementary school child knows, the bikers, on their way to Washington to pay tribute and raise awareness for POWs and MIAs, eschewed the toll booth naysayers and traveled east on U.S. 60, right into the waiting arms of a loving and grateful community.

Some 20 years later, the happenstance meeting of bikers and children has become the state’s largest Memorial Day weekend event in the L.Z. Rainelle West Virginia Veterans Reunion.

“The general feeling is to have the opportunity to honor our veterans of the past, present and future,” chairperson Monica Venable said Wednesday. “We want to honor all veterans, especially our West Virginia veterans.”

Highlighting the five-day event will be today’s annual ritual of nearly 1,000 motorcycles thundering off Sewell Mountain and into Rainelle. Venable said some of the bikers will stay through the weekend and others will continue their Run For The Wall to Washington.

A reception for the bikers is scheduled for 2 p.m. today at the elementary school where lunch will be served and speeches will be heard afterward on the playing field behind the school. Many of the playgrounds were built by the thousands of dollars in donations that individuals raise as they bike across the country.

“This will be Danny ‘Greaser’ Belcher’s 20th year in a row visiting Rainelle,” Venable said of the crowd favorite.

Once again, the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall will be on display this year at the Rainelle Industrial Park beginning at 9 a.m. today. At the memorial wall from Friday through Sunday will be Monica “Lil Sis” Harvey, who is nationally known for greeting those who come to the wall.

An oldies dance, bike runs, bingo games, a car show and live music, among many other events, are also scheduled. For complete details, visit LZRainelle. com.

— E-mail:

cgiggenbach@register-herald.com