One lucky man’s $20 Harley

Shawn Varick has not been on a motorcycle in more than 12 years, but that is about to change thanks to a raffle conducted by the Klahowya Secondary School (KSS) band.

The KSS Band Parent Organization came up with the idea to raffle off a Harley-Davidson “just for the nostalgia of it,” according to Jeff McBirnie, KSS band director.

“It’s a unique item and everybody wants a Harley,” he said.

For Varick, working on a weekend day turned out to be more lucrative than he thought.

“I was working on a Saturday and the Klahowya band was putting on a car wash,” he said. “I stopped in for lunch and said ‘Sure, go ahead and wash up the rig.’ So they washed my truck, I bought a couple of raffle tickets and next thing you know, I’m getting a call that I won a Harley.”

Varick said he typically doesn’t enter raffles, but the idea of winning a Harley- Davidson motorcycle was just too enticing, so he bought two tickets for $10 each.

“I don’t enter into too many drawings,” he said. “Unless it’s a Jeep or a Harley. I’ve never won anything, except for a $50 lotto ticket.”

The band was able to not only pay for the bike itself, but they raised an additional $8,000 for the band to make a trip next year to San Diego to perform at the Hollywood Bowl, according to McBirnie,

“The raffle was very successful,” he said. “Next year we are going to do a car.”

Varick went into the business office at Legend Harley-Davidson in Silverdale Tuesday to sign the paperwork and pay his license fees and taxes before taking possession of his new motorcycle.

With his paperwork completed, Varick rang a bell which signifies a sale has taken place at Legend, and posed for a few pictures.

“I was trying to decide whether or not I should ride it home,” Varick said. “But since I haven’t ridden in so long, I think I’m just going to trailer it.”