Edgecombe Street Riders Motorcycle Club start the new year with a bang

Michelle Liew

January 2, 2018

Photo credits: Ultimate Motorcycling

No cold weather is stopping these lot from riding bikes! Former members of the Edgecombe Street Riders Motorcycle Club and the Galactica Universal Social Clubs started the New Year with a bang.

The Edgecombe Street Riders was a motorcycle club formed in 1975 with Eric Gray as its first president. Started with a handful of members, almost 50 members. They met up and rode together across states and beaches. More than 50 area residents attended the 19^th New Year’s Unity and Friendship Breakfast at Abram’s Restaurant in Tarboro.

“Our clubs used to meet more often and we worked on community projects together, but now we just get together once a year and talk about the past. We also collect canned goods for the homeless shelter in Tarboro,” said Dorothy Davis, the organiser. “New Year’s Day is just a good time to hold this event. We can meet as we start a new year and a new beginning.”

Photo credits: The Cheat Sheet

“We didn’t want to be a motorcycle gang. We wanted to be a motorcycle club. We were something to see when we all rode together. The cops in Tarboro usually stopped us just to ask what we were doing, but they never really gave us any problems. I guess we just attracted a lot of attention when we rode together,” said Gray.

Galactica Universal Social Club was formed years later with family and friends for the women.

“We called it ‘universal’ because it was open to people in other communities and we called it ‘galactica” after the television show. I just liked that name,” said founder Pat Brown.

Photo credits: visitstaugustine.com

Gray loves spending his time at the annual New Year’s Day breakfast considering everyone gets together to talk about the fun times and create memories.

“We can laugh, tell jokes and have a good time,” Gray said. “I really must enjoy it to come out on a day as cold as today.”