Events from dawn to dusk are slated Sat. Sept. 12 in Lucedale to raise money and awareness for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and to provide family-style entertainment for locals.
The 10th Annual Destiny Goss Memorial Cruisin’ for St. Jude followed by Thunder on Main will provide fun and entertainment while honoring facial masks and social distancing for Covid-19 safety measures. Both events are hosted by Black Top Posse, a civic-minded motorcycle club that has a passion for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The cruisin’ event is an 85-mile ride on Saturday morning beginning at the George County courthouse. Registration is 8:30 a.m. The cost is $15 for riders and $10 for passengers. Participants get their choice of a St. Jude tee-shirt or hat. The ride time is 9:30 a.m. The ride also features a poker run in which riders receive playing cards at the beginning, middle, and end of the ride with prizes for the top three winning hands.
Thunder on Main is set at 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Main Street in downtown Lucedale. It features a judged show of cars, trucks, and motorcycles. Automobile registration is $20 in advance and $25 at the event. Vehicles and bikes must be in place by 4 p.m.
Merchant shops and restaurants will be open. Both events will offer prize opportunities with raffles on an Atlanta Braves bat and balls, a night’s stay and dinner at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino, Waffle House meals, and 50/50 cash raffles where St. Jude will get half the collections with the other half going to ticket buyers. A 50/50 raffle will take place at the morning event and a separate 50/50 raffle at the evening affair.
Colorado-based eclectic entertainers, the KneeOn Sisters, will perform live their original renditions of country, classic rock, blues, and mountain music. The band consists of teenaged guitarists Aerial and Skyler Smith. The sisters have family roots in Lucedale and have performed at the St. Jude event for the past few years. Skyler is a cancer survivor and former St. Jude patient. As with many artists, the two began playing music in church. Their name, KneeOn, symbolizes being on one’s knees and praying.
The cruisin’ event is in memory of Destiny Goss, who passed away in 2010 after a battle with cancer. Destiny’s parents, Jerry and April Goss of Lucedale, were charter members of Black Top Posse. After her passing, the club decided to dedicate its mission to support St. Jude. The club raises an average of $31,000 per year and its members personally deliver the funds with a club bike ride to the Memphis-based hospital each summer. While there, club members donate blood and platelets as an added way to support the hospital and help the patients.
Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for anything because the hospital is founded on the belief that the only thing parents should worry about is helping their child live.
For more information or to register for Saturday’s events contact Amanda Howard at 601-508-2202 or Kirk Dyer at 601-508-8551.
