By CASSIDI Hankins

the Colors, when the leaves are turning from lush green to autumn shades of brown, red, yellow, and orange. But did you know this rally was rooted in a completely different time of year?

In April 1976, with dogwood trees in full bloom around Western Arkansas, the Christian Motorcyclists Association was still a newly budding ministry. There was no pavilion and no Iron Mountain. This was even before the bathhouse on the original plot

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October HeartBeat

of land was built. CMA Founders, Herb and Shirley Shreve, decided to host a ride called“ The Dogwood Run.”

Records show that the group met early one Saturday morning for a time of worship and a brief message before heading out to watch“ The Great Passion Play” in Eureka Springs.

In notes left for us, Shirley Shreve recollected,“ Altogether, we were 16 people in attendance. To us, this was a good crowd because CMA had very few members at that time.”

Joined by a group of bikers from Texas who just happened to be riding north on Hwy 71 before the ride left, they set out. The thing about the first time you do something is that you don’ t necessarily know how special it is at the time. There wasn’ t much documentation outside of these few details, but we assume the event was a success.

A short time later, Herb and Shirley decided to move the rally to October when the leaves were changing and call it the“ Changing of the Colors Rally.” Herb consulted with several weather and forestry experts, and together they determined that the third week of October was the most likely time for optimum foliage viewing. Throughout the years, Colors has brought in thousands of CMA’ ers and guests to worship, fellowship with their friends from across the country, and be refreshed by the teaching of the Word.

I wonder if Herb and Shirley could’ ve imagined the celebration taking place this month as CMA celebrates 50 years of ministry at the rally that began as 16 CMA’ ers taking a ride through the dogwoods. You won’ t see any snowy white leaves on the dogwoods, but in case you’ d like to retrace their tire tracks through