Hazel Baumberger sat on the edge of a plush gray-and-white lounge chair that workers at her senior living center had dragged out to the front porch.
The 108-year-old woman wasn’t seeking some sun, fresh air or peace and quiet sitting outside Peaceful Pines Senior Living center in Fort Pierre, South Dakota, on Monday.
She was waiting for quite the opposite. She wanted to smell the fumes and hear the loud rumble of motorcycles arriving for a post-Sturgis rally being held in her honor.
A couple dozen bikers, friends and family came to the “Rally to Hazel,” a special event held for Baumberger, South Dakota’s oldest living woman and possibly the last living person to have attended the first Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in 1938.
Unable to physically attend the 84th Sturgis rally, which concluded Sunday, staff at her senior living center decided to hold a rally for her Monday, hoping it would draw in riders on their way home from the world’s largest motorcycle rally.
If Baumberger couldn’t ride to Sturgis, they figured, some bikers from Sturgis might be kind enough to roll up and visit her.
She’s A Harley Girl
As Baumberger awaited their arrivals, Peaceful Pines workers hung a banner the centenarian’s nieces had created above the senior center’s entrance. “108 years and still purring!” read the banner, which featured a photo of Baumberger on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Nearby, folding tables were set up with lemonade, cookies, cinnamon roll cake and brownies, as well as a purple basket filled with a “souvenir from Hazel.”
“Thank you for stopping,” the basket stated. Inside were commemorative poker chips created just for the event that said, “You’re never too old to enjoy the ride.”
Poker chips are a big collectible for bikers, who grab them from motorcycle shops and events they travel to.
For four hours, a smattering of motorcycles — including silver hogs, a yellow trike and a gleaming white Harley-Davidson cruiser — pulled into Pierre to see Baumberger.
Among those who visited were bald-headed and bandana-wearing bikers from Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA) and the Militiamen Veterans Motorcycle Club.
Riders who hadn’t attended the Sturgis rally also came, including a man on a Honda motorcycle who offered to give Baumberger a joyride. She politely declined, senior center staff said.
Hazel Baumberger is 108 and South Dakota's oldest person. She also attended the first Sturgis Motorcycle Ralley in 1938. Not able to attend this year, some Sturgis rallygoers brought the party to her with a drive-by Rally to Hazel on Monday. At left, she meets with members of Bikers Against Child Abuse. (Courtesy Peaceful Pines Senior Living, Fort Pierre, South Dakota) 
Hazel Baumberger is 108 and South Dakota's oldest person. She also attended the first Sturgis Motorcycle Ralley in 1938. Not able to attend this year, some Sturgis rallygoers brought the party to her with a drive-by Rally to Hazel on Monday. (Courtesy Peaceful Pines Senior Living, Fort Pierre, South Dakota) 
Hazel Baumberger is 108 and South Dakota's oldest person. She also attended the first Sturgis Motorcycle Ralley in 1938. Not able to attend this year, some Sturgis rallygoers brought the party to her with a drive-by Rally to Hazel on Monday. (Courtesy Peaceful Pines Senior Living, Fort Pierre, South Dakota) 
Hazel Baumberger is 108 and South Dakota's oldest person. She also attended the first Sturgis Motorcycle Ralley in 1938. Not able to attend this year, some Sturgis rallygoers brought the party to her with a drive-by Rally to Hazel on Monday. (Courtesy Peaceful Pines Senior Living, Fort Pierre, South Dakota)
At The First
Baumberger was in her 20s when she said she attended the first ever Sturgis rally in 1938, then called the Black Hills Motor Classic.
The event featured about nine riders competing in skills contests and races and has since grown into an annual 10-day party that draws about 500,000. Baumberger has attended several of the rallies over the years — so many that she said her memories of them all blur together.
But she shared what she could recall with bikers that showed up Monday. She brought up good times she had drinking in the rally’s beer gardens or riding on the back of a relative’s bike. She wore a black commemorative T-shirt someone had given her from this year’s Sturgis rally for the special event.
“She was just so happy,” said Peaceful Pines Executive Director Heather Janes, who organized the Rally to Hazel. “She just said she loved hearing them roar. She was excited to see everybody. She was sitting on the edge of her seat when people came up.”
Baumberger mostly sat and listened to riders’ stories from this year’s gathering while others played cornhole or munched on snacks nearby.
“One gentleman had been in Sturgis for four days and brought her a patch,” Janes said. “It said ‘Black Hills Motor Classic, 84th annual.’”
Justin George can be reached at justin@cowboystatedaily.com.
