A giant fiberglass hippo started it all.

Having customized motorcycles for years, in 1982 Nick Hawkey of Kunkletown got tired of it.

He happened to ride his “double wide snowmobile trailer” by a motel in Stroudsburg and noticed a 8-foot by 7-foot hippocampus outside.

He thought it would be cool to ask to “borrow” it. Surprisingly the motel owner let him rent it for $300 and people started taking pictures of it as he drove by.

Hawkey took the hippo, built a sleigh around it, added Santa with a hat his wife made.

Speakers were disguised as two presents and a turntable was added - all pulled by his motorcycle. Hawkey thought that there must be something he could now do with this and decided to use it to generate attention for “Toys For Tots” as he drove around the Lehigh Valley.

The vehicle turned into a float for the Mummers Parade, the annual New Year’s Day parade in Philadelphia. The first year he entered it as a float he placed 10th. Since then four different floats have been entered in the parade including a go cart that looks like a minivan with a matching motorcycle, again advertising “Toys For Tots.”

Hawkey enjoyed dressing up his motorcycle (and himself) and using it as a fundraising tool. In 1983 his 2-year-old granddaughter had a kidney transplant and Hawkey got involved in the organization “Dream Come True,” a Lehigh Valley organization like the Make-A-Wish foundation. He was the co-host of the “Dream Come True” telethon on TV 13. Sadly his granddaughter passed away at age 5 after three kidney transplants.

Hawkey enjoyed the attention he was bringing to different organizations. He began designing different themes for his motorcycle for parades and fundraisers including Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Veterans Day and Christmas.

This sparked him to get dressed as “Crazy Claus “and give out candy at senior centers for the holidays. He also visits nursing homes with a Cupid themed motorcycle for Valentine’s Day and created an Easter bunny themed motorcycle with a sidecar for eight kids.

In 2022 Hawkey enjoyed raising awareness and fundraising so much that he began to get involved in supporting breast cancer organizations such as “Pink Heals” and “Breast Friends.” He added a pink kayak as a sidecar and lots of pink teddy bears. He said that this has been a “big hit with women” who stop and tell him their story.

At 85 years old Hawkey is still going strong with new ideas. It takes about a week for him to complete the additions to his motorcycle for each holiday. For Halloween he has a real coffin from the 1972 Wilkes-Barre flood with a kayak holding a skeleton. He even named this one, “Dung Hill,” a reference to Ernest Hemingway’s book “The Green Hills of Africa” where it’s a term for elephant poo.

For 52 years Hawkey has also volunteered as Santa for the Salvation Army, nursing homes and assisted living facilities. He gets decked out in attire to match his “dressed up” motorcycle.

Keep your eyes out for Hawkey to see what colorful, decorative surprises you may see him driving by in.