HOG Rally roars into Houma

Motorsports Park regularly hosts Kart racing, too
April 3, 2013
Andrew Calise Freeman
April 8, 2013
Motorsports Park regularly hosts Kart racing, too
April 3, 2013
Andrew Calise Freeman
April 8, 2013

If you hear the loud rev of motors April 4-6, don’t be alarmed. It’s just the sound of more than 2,000 Hogs.


The state Harley Owners Group Rally is in town, and bikers from across the country are hitting local roadways in mass for the Ride the Wetlands-themed event.

“We’ve got about 1,000 riders registered, and we’re expecting another 1,000 to sign up by the time the rally happens,” Glenn Matherne, Houma Hog Chapter road captain and treasurer of this year’s state rally, said. “We’ve had up to 2,500 before at other rallies, and this year, we’ve got people coming from Canada, Wisconsin and California.”


Preregistration for the H.O.G. members-only event has closed, but riders may join the group at the event and may sign up for the rally Thursday, Friday or Saturday. Each National H.O.G. member is allowed one guest, and the $40 registration includes all of the events.


The three-day event marks the celebration of H.O.G.’s 30th anniversary and Harley-Davidson’s 110th Anniversary and includes events like an Early Bird Party at Mike Bruno’s Bayou Country Harley-Davidson, scavenger hunts, a mini Mardi Gras Parade, live entertainment, a United Houma Nation Tribal Dance and parties each night.

The highlight of the rally will be the self-guided and guided bike tours throughout the area, and each trail is designed to highlight the swamps, marshes and communities of the area, especially those that are in danger of being lost to coastal erosion.


“We will have four guided tours and seven self-guided rides, and the self-guided tours will come with instructions and maps for places to see and eat,” Matherne said. “We aren’t having any food booths at the event because we want people to get out and try local restaurants. We want to help the local economy, and we estimate that the event will bring $1 million into the parish.”


Bikers on the tours will find themselves in places like Isle de Jean Charles, Grand Isle, Cocodrie, Dularge, Grand Calliou, Pierre Part and Thibodaux in addition to a stop at Zam’s Swamp Tours and Restaurant to see the 14-foot resident alligator, browsing local goods at the Lafourche Central Market, learning about the coast at Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and getting an up-close look at how coastal erosion is effecting the state’s coast.

“We want people to experience the parish and come back even when the rally is not going on,” Matherne says. “I’m really looking forward to meeting all the other bikers and make new friends in the bike community.”


Matherne, a Harley owner since 1957, and his wife Merril travel the country on their bikes, but that was not always the case with the happily retired couple.


“All of our marriage, she couldn’t understand my fascination with motorcycles,” he says. “I finally got her on mine, and, when I went to buy a new one, she said, ‘Well you better buy two because I’m not riding with you anymore.’ She got her Medicare endorsement and her motorcycle card on the same day, and I can’t get her off that bike. She’s racked up more than 60,000 saddle miles in just the last few years.”

The couple is thrilled their hometown will be hosting the rally for the first time since 2007.

“It’s hosted in different cities around the state each year, and cities must bid to host the event,” Matherne says. “New Orleans has to bid for the Superbowl, and Houma had to bid for this. At our chapter meetings, we came up with the ‘Ride the Wetlands’ theme. We gave a presentation to Harley-Davidson (dealership owners and chapter presidents), and they loved it.”

Each year, 26 dealers and dealer chapter presidents gather to decide where the rally will be hosted, and cities must pitch plans and describe how the event will showcase Harley-Davidson and the area where the event will be hosted.

“We teamed up with the (Houma-Terrebonne) Civic Center and the convention and visitors bureau to present our plan,” says rally coordinator James Champagne. “We highlighted all the tourist attractions, our Cajun food, the popularity of the ‘Swamp People’ television show and the friendliness of our people. The presentation was a hit.”

Houma Hog Chapter president Glen Prosperie hopes that the wetland rides will bring attention to the plight of Louisiana’s coastal zone.

“I want people to see our marshes and swamps and see the erosion,” Prosperie says. “Lots of people wonder why we spend money on coastal restoration, and they will see it, especially at places like Isle de Jean Charles. We are trying to save our people, our land and our heritage. We will lose these things if we don’t protect them, and we will educate people with these guided tours.”

Prosperie, of Houma, has been a Hog rider for 13 years, and he and his wife Cindy love to take in the local sights on their rides.

“We ride every weekend, and my favorite place to ride is around here,” Prosperie says. “It’s a really great time of the year to ride because everything is in bloom.”

“And my favorite spot to stop on a ride is anywhere the food is good,” Prosperie says, laughing.

Merril and her husband Glenn Matherne sit on her Harley-Davidson motorcycle off of La. Highway 182 in Bayou Black. The couple is looking forward to the state H.O.G. Rally from April 4-6 in Terrebonne Parish.

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