SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Some 32 motorcycles and their riders took to the streets on Sunday afternoon to raise money for a then unknown charity, and the best poker hand would determine the recipient.

Kristie Remillard takes her dog Natasha for a spin during the NWT Riders Association charity ride. - Charlotte Hilling/NNSL photo

The mobile poker game took the riders from Dagenais Street to Rotary Park on School Draw, out to Boundary Creek, to the Golf Club and back to the start for a barbecue, with the riders stopping at each location for a round of poker.

The motorcycle enthusiasts encompass a wide variety of members with kids and even animals hitching a ride.

Kristie Remillard brought along her three-year-old dog Natasha, who shares her owners love of motorcycles.

"Every time she hears a bike engine she starts barking," said Remillard.

This is the second time the Northwest Territories Riders Association has used the mobile poker technique to raise money, and the association's secretary Robin Weber said it is a good way to spread the good will to a raft of different charities.

"We have a hard time deciding on the charity because everyone has their own pet charities, so this way it makes it easier and we don't have to argue about it," said Weber.

This time around $640 was raised for the SideDoor Youth Centre, with a three of a kind poker hand taking the honours.

She said the event was a successful affair, with no sign of rain, which would have been the only thing, Weber said, the could have put a dampener on things.

A good portion of the association's get-togethers involve some sort of fund raising venture, but Weber is not sure why the association has such a habit of giving.

"Well, I don't know, it's just what we do," she said.

The association was established in Yellowknife in 1999, and now has about 50 members.

If Yellowknife seems like a strange place to have such an active motorcycle club – given the extremes in weather – consider the fact that riding has a longer season than snow mobiles. According to Weber motorcycles are on the roads for about six months.

"There are a lot of bikes in town, but I don't know why," she said.

Perhaps it is the outgoing and pioneering spirits of people who are attracted to Yellowknife that leads to such an active motorcycle scene.

Weber, the owner of two motorcycles, said it is the "freedom" of riding that attracted her to the two wheelers.