Motorcyclists are invited to gather at Christ Community United Methodist Church, 205 N. Duffy Road, at 11 a.m. June 10 for the Blessing of the Bikes.

In what's become an annual rite of summer, motorcyclists are invited to gather at Christ Community United Methodist Church, 205 N. Duffy Road, at 11 a.m. June 10 for the Blessing of the Bikes.

Pastor Bruce Gasgoine said, “We invite motorcycle riders to come after the worship service at 11 a.m. We go out and bless all the motorcycles.

“We do a corporate blessing, and we go one by one and do individual blessings,” he said.

Gasgoine said he is assisted by a lay leader and youth director Sharie Loomis in making the individual blessings.

Along with the blessing, the church gives the riders a cross on a chain, and everyone is invited to the church's Oz Hall afterward for a lunch.

Gasgoine said, “We've had anywhere from 10 to 30 bikers for the blessing depending on the weather.” This will be the fourth year for the event, which Gasgoine credits with being started by church member and Harley rider Mike Gibson.

Gibson of Center Township figures the church numbers four or five motorcycle riders in the congregation, eight to 10 if you count the couples that ride together.

“I have a Harley Davidson and I've ridden for a number of years,” he said adding that in addition to riding for pleasure he uses his motorcycle to commute to the Zelienople office of his bookkeeping/accounting profession.

“I've been riding since I was 16, I'm 56 now,” Gibson said, adding he's gone this long with only “a couple of minor accidents, nothing serious” although whether the blessings have had anything to do with his recent good fortune is up for debate.

But he credits another pair of church members, Forrest and Mary Etta White of Clay Township with being the real driving force behind the Blessing of the Bikes event.

Mary Etta White, 75, said she and her husband, 79, have been riding motorcycles since the 1960s.

“He got one when he got out of the service in 1958, and we've been riding together since the 1960s,” she said, adding the couple recently gave up their dirt bikes and are now making do with one Harley Davidson motorcycle they both ride on their weekend trips around Western Pennsylvania.

Sometimes the trips are longer, she said. “We've been over to York. In 2017 we took the trailer down to Daytona Beach for Bike Week.”

They've been members of Christ Community almost as long as they've been motorcycle riders.

“We were members of Christ Community before there was a church. We used to meet in the Mercer fire hall starting in 1964 before the church was built in 1970.”

Both Gibson and the Whites said they rely on word of mouth through the motorcycle committee to get the word out about the upcoming blessing.

White said she and her husband also send out flyers to various bike shops and bars.

“The VFWs have a lot of riders,” she said. “We stop at different places.”