The annual Rhododendron Festival, held on the Oregon coast in Old Town Florence the third weekend in May, kicks off the summer for locals and travelers from across Oregon. Attendees enjoy the carnival, the vibrant native blooms, a classic car show and the Grand Floral Parade on Sunday.
Also, around 1 pm Saturday, May 16, the Free Souls Motorcycle Club rolled into Florence hundreds deep, parking their rides along the roads in and around Old Town, flocking to various bars, restaurants and attractions. The event — the annual Rhody Run — is never mentioned in Rhody Days press releases.
The Free Souls first gathered in a parking lot in Mapleton, some coming from Eugene — where the club was founded and home to the “mother chapter” — and others from across the Pacific Northwest. There, outside Frank’s Place Restaurant and Lounge, they met ride-alongs and support clubs, and socialized.
As members, prospects, ride-alongs and support club members talked, they surprisingly conversed more about friends, family and travel plans than the motorcycles they arrived on. (Prospects have a sponsor and are seeking to join the club. Support clubs, such as Anubis Ridans and ROAR, ride with the club on runs, and support the main club at events.)
However one Free Souls member, Dalton Nardi, sat in the parking lot covered in grease and grime from his bike, jerry-rigging the exhaust back together with zip ties and foil.
Nardi built the bike last year in just under two months for the Blackberry Bike Build Off in Sutherlin. Despite having issues with his exhaust, “That’s what it’s all about,” he said. “Everyone getting together, having fun, riding good bikes.”
Other members rode motorcycles with a deeper story behind them. Chris Miner sat upon his purplish Harley-Davidson, staring off across Highway 126. The bike he decided to ride for the event is dedicated to his brother, who passed away in March 2025.
Miner bought the bike to paint his brother’s ashes into, and he plans to paint angel wings on its fuel tank, with “in loving memory of Brandon Goodeve” inscribed on the side. Miner explained that his brother was in one of the support clubs, and the bike was his way of “always riding with his brother.”
Just before the Free Souls MC headed out from the parking lot in Mapleton, some members of the support clubs left. Headed to Florence, their job was to block side streets and intersections for the incoming Free Souls. They stopped in parking lots, waiting for the signal. Once they received it, all traffic along the always busy Highway 101 disappeared in anticipation of several hundred Free Souls on Harleys.
When the riders rolled into in Florence — turning off 126 onto Bay Street in Old Town — the crowds already at the 119th annual Rhody Days flocked to the streets, watching this grand arrival unveil. Members then parked along the streets of Old Town, along with family and friends, and enjoyed the rest of the festival while onlookers admired their rides.