BY TUCKER MASSEY
FOR THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA —
On Oct. 19 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Extreme Powersports Opelika will be teaming up with Red Clay Brewing Company for the second year in a row to host the Extreme Opelika Bike Night.
While a motorcycle meet-up hosted by a company called “Extreme” may be alarming to some, General Manager of Extreme Powersports Opelika Josh Dyal and Marketing and Branding Manager for Extreme Powersports Rob Carter said that this event went far beyond motorcycles — this event was about forming and encouraging community.
“What we do with [Extreme] Bike Night is we bring the bikes out, Dyal said. “We get the community involved and people get to really see what we have to offer.”
Carter said that while the entire community is involved, the original purpose of the night is to provide a place for riders to gather and connect. In fact, Carter said that riders in the Auburn-Opelika community had been “starved for a bike night for motorcycle riders.”
“There’s not a lot of events that go on for these guys and ladies,” Carter said. “When [Extreme Powersports] purchased East Alabama Powersports and turned into Extreme Powersports Opelika, one of the biggest things we wanted to do right off the bat was … make sure we were part of this community.”
Part of establishing themselves within the community started with finding a local outlet that was willing to partner with them to help host the night. Carter said that Red Clay Brewing Company was an obvious choice to reach out to.
“We thought we needed to team up with someone because our facility is not big enough for the crowd we bring,” he said. “That’s when we reached out to Red Clay Brewing Company and decided, ‘Hey, we’ll do it here,’ because who has a better pulse on the community than the local watering hole?”
Riders and families who don’t ride often come out to the event just to hang out. Food trucks and music will be part of the night, but the main focus is letting the community really form a tight-knit bond among one another and to let Extreme Powersports Opelika show off their arsenal of motorcycles, ATVs and more.
“We always encourage more people to come out and see it because it’s nothing like you would ever assume it would be. When you get out here and kind of get a look at it, it’s – first of all – shocking that so many people show up,” Dyal said.
At the first bike night that was assisted by Red Clay, Dyal and Carter were expecting nothing compared to the group they had come out. Also during the first Extreme Bike Night, Dyal and Carter understood that the event reached far beyond bikers and riders from throughout Alabama – it reached the entirety of community they had settled in.
“It’s grown from an event for people who own motorcycles or autocycles to everyone around here who shows up to chill and hang out with us,” Carter said.
Over time, Dyal and Carter hope that Extreme Powersports Opelika can become a staple in the community, and until then, they will continue to do outreach and let the community know that Extreme Powersports Opelika is here for them.
“We are trying to grow this business within the community,” Carter said. “We want to be a big part of this community.”