Bear Creek bikers help area families

By Erik Buchinger

The Mob Bear Creek will host a Corn Hole Toss tournament fundraiser on Sunday, March 12 at the Bear Creek Fire Department.

The Mob Bear Creek is a non-profit organization of men and women motorcycle enthusiasts, whose purpose is to further their enjoyment of motorcycling by providing organized activities.

“We like to go out and help people,” The Mob Bear Creek President Keith Eulrich said. “With a lot of them, they get scared at first, but once you get to know us, we put our pants on the same way as everybody else, and we’ve all got jobs.”

The Mob Bear Creek originated as part of the Ant Hill Mob Chapter 1, which was formed in Osman, WI near Manitowoc.

The group’s best year to date occurred in 2015 when the organization raised $108,200 for less fortunate individuals through charity events.

On New Year’s Day of 2016, The Mob Bear Creek branched out to form its own local organization.

Eulrich said he noticed that people seem afraid of his motorcycle club, which can be a challenge.

“People see what we do and like what we do, and they’ll ask about what we’re doing, but for the most part, the general public is mostly scared of motorcycle riders,” Eulrich said. “That’s a big hurdle to get over to try and change people’s thoughts and ideas.”

Eulrich said he thinks stereotypes of motorcycle clubs likely originated from movies.

“It probably started from “Easy Rider” and those old movies back in the day,” Eulrich said.

Eulrich said the club has more than 20 members from around the area, and it continues to grow.

“We’ve also got five prospects who are interested in coming into the club,” Eulrich said. “They have to be with us for a year so they get to know everybody, and we can see what they’re like.”

The Mob Bear Creek was formed to help families and raise money for them, Eulrich said.

“A bunch of people just got together to help the less fortunate, so we raise money for charities in the area,” Eulrich said. “We do charity events like the charity ride. We’re doing the corn hole contest. We sponsor various other activities, and when people come ask us for help, we try to do that.”

Among the activities include the annual “Mobfest,” which began last year and features a pig roast as well as live bands.

This year’s “Mobfest” will be held on June 3 at the Mob Bear Creek’s Land at the corner of Railroad and Rolo streets in Bear Creek. “One Hot Mess” and “Nashville Pipeline” will be the featured bands at the event.

This year’s charity ride will be held on Aug. 12, and the group has donated the proceeds to the Make-A-Wish foundation the last few years among other charities.

The Mob Bear Creek also adopted a needy family for Christmas the last few years in the Clintonville and New London areas and donated 1,200 pounds of dog food to the Happily Ever After Animal Sanctuary, a no kill shelter near Marion.