For 28 years, this thing called Big Bikes for Little Tikes has been dedicated to kids like Cara McArthur. It’s La Crosse’s version of Make A Wish.
Saturday, the bikes ride for the 6-year-old Onalaska tike that’s spent most of her life in a hospital.
Cara and her family’s wish — mom and dad, two brothers — is to go on a much needed vacation to see the ocean for the first time.
Money raised for the event — that begins with a 9:30 a.m. check in at Great River Harley Davidson — goes to sending the McArthur’s on that vacation.
The Rock Foundation has organized this effort to help an area child who’s gone through hardships no person, let alone kid, has to go through, since the late 90s.
“Unfortunately, when it comes to cancers or childhood or people who get into these unfortunate situations, there’s not always a cure or always a happy ending, if you will,” Puck said. “But we do the best that we can.”
Puck, 95.7 the Rock
And it’s gone from, really not that small of an event, as Puck for the Rock explained, to something now that attracts an entire Coulee Region community to help out a family in need in a big way.
“It’s weird, because the first year was in 1997, if I remember right, that first year we might have had 50-60 people,” Puck said.
Now, the 100-mile ride through the bluffs attracts hundreds.
BIG BIKES FOR LITTLE TIKES
WHEN: 9:30 a.m. Saturday check in, 11 a.m. ride
WHERE: Meet at Great River Harley Davidson in Onalaska (map)
SIGNUP at here at AroundRiverCity.com
AFTER PARTY: TimeOut Tavern in La Crescent (map)
Rebecca McArthur says her daughter Cara will be there to help send off the riders, and that she’ll probably want to say hi to everyone — and mom asks that everyone get down, really close to Cara so she can see your face.
And, if everything goes OK, and Cara’s got the energy, she’ll be at TimeOut Tavern in La Crescent for the post-ride party. Maybe her two Great Danes, too.
Big Bikes for Little Tikes has been doing this so long, the Rock crew has seen the best and the worst for the families they set out to help.
Puck explained how the Rock’s Brian Simpson bumped into one of the “tikes” not that long ago “and he’s like huge! We remember he was just really, really little.” And the shock of just remembering this child, who is now an adult.
But there’s also tragedy in taking up causes like this.
“Unfortunately, when it comes to cancers or childhood or people who get into these unfortunate situations, there’s not always a cure or always a happy ending, if you will,” Puck said. “But we do the best that we can.”
TOP PHOTO: FILE – Participants get ready to ride for a past Big Bikes for Little Tikes (PHOTO: Bob Good Photography Studios)