2023 Raffle Day Update! Find Out Who Won Here!
Dale’s Wheels Through Time Museum capped off its 20th Anniversary season with its annual Raffle Day on November 19th.
The all-American motorcycle museum, located in the heart of Maggie Valley, NC, is world-renown for its collection of the rarest and most iconic American motorcycles. The museum prides itself in the fact that almost every machine in the collection is a running example, leading to its well-known tag line, “The Museum That Runs,”
Each year the museum finds, restores, and then gives away a vintage American motorcycle during its annual Raffle Day. The raffle is the non-for-profit museum’s biggest fundraiser each year.
The weather was perfect for the celebration which saw over 1500 people in attendance. The days events included the firing up of vintage bikes in the museum’s vast collection, live music, and food trucks, all centered around the moment that attendees had been waiting for all year, the giveaway of the raffle bike. This year’s bike was a stunning 1937 Harley-Davidson Knucklehead, painted in one-year-only Delphine Blue and striped in Teak Read, with hand gold and silver leaf tank badges, powered by a 61c.i. engine with a four-speed transmission.
The 2022 Raffle Bike
As the 2:00 drawing time closed in, the crowds gathered outside the museum, as emcee John Gustafson rallied the excited crowd together to announce the lucky winner! This year was the first year that the museum unveiled its new super-size raffle drum. At exactly 2:00 the drum, full of tickets, was spun to mix the tickets and the ticket picker, five-year-old Lilly Snyder drew the three winning tickets!
The winner of the 1937 Knucklehead was Ed Shequen of Motley, Minnesota! Ed purchased his tickets online after a visit to the museum in May of this year! Ed has been riding motorcycles since 1971 when he was 12 years old! He rides a 1959 Harley-Davidson Panhead and a Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic. Ed was ecstatic when he learned he won and said that the 37’ will look great next to his 59’.
Second prize of ten thousand dollars went to Randy Cooper of Quinton, Alabama. Randy bought his tickets online and hasn’t had the chance to visit the museum, but has been riding in the Smokies for years! Randy has been riding since 1974 and currently rides a 2018 Indian Scout Bobber. He heard about the museum from his riding buddies.
Third prize of five thousand dollars went to Randy Farabee of Gilbert, Arizona.
“We have a winner!”
The 2023 Raffle Bike, a 1937 Knucklehead Bobber
Curator Matt Walksler gave many thanks to all those who made this year’s raffle an outstanding success, and said that his father, the late Dale Walksler “would be honored by and overwhelmed with the support and enthusiasm shown for the museum here today”.
The museum also unveiled the raffle bike for 2023, another 1937 Harley-Davidson Knucklehead, but this one is in a hot-rod bobber style and dressed in finished in HD custom Silver, striped in Black, and edged in Gold, with bobbed fenders, and Flanders accessory risers and bars, flaunting its authentic period-modified look and feel. You can get your tickets for the 2023 Raffle Bike today with the link below!
November 19, 2022