By Rebecca Copley
MONTE VISTA — During the last Monte Vista City Council meeting Scott Deacon and Zach Staggs, of Brother’s Keepers Motorcycle Club, came before the council to ask for permission to have a street dance as part of their “Thunder in the Valley” event. The club has been putting on the event for the last couple of years as a fundraiser for the Veteran’s Coalition. The first year they had the event they were able to raise $2,500 for the Coalition. It’s been steadily growing with this year bringing in $5,000 for the cause. “We’ve been brainstorming on how to make this bigger,” Deacon said.
The main event will be taking place at Ski-Hi park on Saturday, June 13. They would also like to host a street party downtown between 1st and 2nd Avenues on Adams Street. They would like to have food, music, and a place for people to donate to the Veteran’s Coalition. They hope by having it downtown the event will also benefit local businesses.
Tentatively they would like to start the street party at 5 p.m. and keep it going until 10 p.m. They’re hoping to bring in eight nitromethane dragsters that they would fire up around 8 p.m. They used to do something similar for the Early Iron Car Show in Alamosa. On Saturday, they’re hoping to get 10 pin stripers from all over the country to come in and have a pinstripe panel auction. Deacon told the council they did one last year at the Early Iron and it raised $6,000. “I’m hoping to quadruple the amount that we gave this year to the veterans. I’m just here to see if you guys would be okay with having a party down there and it’s not going to be a bunch of wild hooligans,” said Deacon. On Saturday they are also hoping to have a car and truck show at Ski-Hi park. Deacon is also trying to get a military jet to fly over.
“We’re going all out,” said Deacon, who told the council he is very passionate about this event, and the benefit it brings our veterans. He also thanked the city for all their support with the club’s events in years past.
The response from the council was supportive. “I’m amazed. Sounds like a lot more than a street dance. I’m looking forward to it,” Councilor Gary Johnson commented. The Brother’s Keepers motorcycle club still has nine months to plan the event and are hopeful they can make it as big as possible.
“I really think we can put Monte Vista on the map with veteran association and there isn’t any better thing in my mind that we could be recognized for,” Deacon concluded.