Heartland S.T.E.A.M. How We Got to Where We Are

S.T.E.A.M. stands for Seminar to Educate and Motivate. The S.T.E.A.M. group is composed of A.B.A.T.E. organizations from the five state Midwest area plus Illinois and Nebraska. The states take turns hosting this event with A.B.A.T.E. of Wisconsin being our host in 2021. For those who believe in motorcycling rights and common-sense motorcycle safety, S.T.E.A..M is one of the most important events of the year. Our area of the country contributes greatly to the motorcycling rights and safety discussions that take place on the national and state levels. Many of the motorcycling freedoms we take for granted these days were the direct result of the leadership and members of this seven-state group coming together to share information. The STEAM attendees are always honored to sit down with the other seven state motorcycle rights organization (SMRO) leaders and share what we do well, what we can do better, and what we should do in the future. The S.T.E.A.M. states continue to be leaders in protecting motorcycling rights and common-sense motorcycle safety.

The idea for a Midwest SMRO conference came out of a meeting one cold and snowy Minnesota day on January 27, 1990 at the Comfort Inn in Rochester. Representatives from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota met to plan this cooperative effort. The idea was to improve communication between the Midwestern states and to further cooperation on federal issues.

The first Heartland S.T.E.A.M. was held May 5^th and 6th, 1990, at McGuire’s Inn in St. Paul Minnesota. It set the now familiar pattern for conferences with general sessions, break-out sessions, and of course a fun event in the evening. Listed speakers included Bob Illingworth, lobbyist for the Minnesota Motorcycle Riders Association, Mike “Balls” Farabaugh, Chairman of the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF), Mayor Richard Schoeniger from Arkansas, and Bill Gannon from the Massachusetts Motorcycle Association. The entire Board of Directors of the MRF was also in attendance. This first S.T.E.A.M. cemented the close relationship the Midwest has with the MRF. Since this first S.T.E.A.M. conference, the profits from the event have always been donated to support the efforts of the MRF.

The second and third installments of S.T.E.A.M. were both held in Rochester Minnesota at the Kahler Hotel. For 1991, a new addition was Slider Gilmore’s Accident Scene Management presentation. It was the first time many people from outside of Iowa had experienced his amazing information and style of delivery. The Saturday night auction raised $2000 for the MRF. The Board of Directors of the MMRA were also in attendance and joined the MRF as a Sustaining Member. As a side note Heartland S.T.E.A..M spawned other regional rights events. March 1- 3 was the weekend of the first annual BEST of the West conference held in Salt Lake City. BEST involved rights advocates from 12 western states and Canada. BEAST of the East and the Mid-south MILE are also events that follow the pattern.

The 1992 edition included workshops by Bob Illingworth-Basic Biker Civics, Buck Kittredge-Working with Your Legislators, and Gary Klinker-Working with Other Motorcycle Organizations. Representatives of the American Motorcyclist Association, Bikers Against Manslaughter, the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, and the Minnesota Motorcycle Riders Association all took part in the weekend. Keynote speaker Wayne Curtain was serving as the MRF lobbyist in Washington DC. He reported on events in DC and with the MRF. Dave Dwyer, Legislative Chairman for ABATE of Wisconsin also supplied a lot of information on state and federal issues. Dave is still an active member of the MRF board of directors. At the close of the conference the co-chairmen for the event, Larry Cooper, ABATE of MN and Gary Klinker, ABATE of Wisconsin thanked everyone for their attendance and hard work to make the event another success. They also made an announcement that would set the stage for all subsequent S.T.E.A.M. conferences. It was agreed to move the 1993 edition to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to include more and different people and keep the event fresh from year to year. For the next two years S.T.E.A.M. was held in Sioux Falls, SD at the Howard Johnson Conference Center. The location of S.T.E.A.M. continues to be moved throughout the seven states to this day.

In 1995 the event moved to Waterloo, Iowa the weekend of March 31- April 2. Speakers included Former Iowa ABATE Director, and current MRF VP Steve Eggleston, South Dakota State Rep Jim Putnam, Iowa State Rep Steve Grubbs, and of course Wayne Curtain, MRF lobbyist. Some sessions included Tenth Amendment issues by Doug Murguria, The Fully Informed Jury by John Hartog, a computer workshop by Jeff Kuhn of ABATE of Iowa, Getting Involved in the Local Political Process by Gary Klinker, ABATE of Wisconsin, Successful Meetings by Tom Pauley, MRF Rep from Missouri, and a Share The Road workshop by Larry Cooper and Tom Shrader from ABATE of Minnesota.

In 1996 S.T.E.A.M. moved to the Holiday Inn in Fargo, North Dakota. Along with the regular issues and workshops this is the first mention we found concerning ITS, the Intelligent Transportation System program. This was the beginning of the dialog about connected vehicles and infrastructure. At the time, the main concern was that motorcycles were not accounted for in the system. Does this sound familiar? We are still dealing with this regarding autonomous vehicles.

Over the last thirty years the Heartland S.T.E.A.M. Conference has grown exponentially. It is amazing to us how much our group, now numbering seven states, has accomplished. I hope all of you share our appreciation of the freedom fighters who support ABATE of Wisconsin and the rest of the S.T.E.A.M. states, in their efforts to maintain and improve the motorcycling rights and common-sense motorcycling safety by hosting the 2021 Heartland STEAM Conference in Brookfield, WI.

Respectfully submitted,

Mack Backlund and Gary Klinker