Hair auction from one man’s locks brings in $10,000 donation

No matter how you cut it, the heart and smile are still the same BY CHUCK TUCK | JOURNAL REPORTER It was hotter than expected on Sunday, June 29 for the 13th annual Seattle Children’s Ride put together by the Imagine Guild to benefit The Children’s Hospital.

Raising $600,000 and having over 1,000 motorcycle riders registered weeks in advance for the Rock-N-Ride event, solidified its success and compared to last year’s rainy day ride, this year riders welcomed the scorching sun.

 Things got off to a great start two days earlier at the Friday evening Gala event held in Bellevue at the Hyatt Hotel. Rider Thomas Hart of Lake Stevens auctioned off the right to cut his hair and donate it to Locks of Love. 

 Known around town and within the biker community for his long blonde hair, Hart usually wore it in a ponytail.

 The idea to auction off the hair-cut just happened, according to Hart.

 “It was a spur of the moment idea,” Hart said. “The bidding went nuts, I thought it would raise a couple hundred dollars,” he said.

 The final bid came in at $7,500 according to Hart, and the winning bid was from Matt Schneider, a fishing boat salesperson and his wife Sylvia Bolton, who is a yacht designer. 

 Hart also explained that Schneider offered to take it a step further by offering an additional $2,500 bringing the total winning bid to $10,000 if he were allowed to give him a mohawk at Sunday’s event.

Before the evening ended, Hart lost his trademark locks and ponytail and walked out of the event with a new do.

   Between the acts on Sunday, Hart was brought to the stage and seated where Schneider and Bolton once again were ready to give him a new hair style. They did their best to shape Hart’s now short hair into a mohawk, but it wasn’t working out the way they had planned. 

 The shears weren’t doing the job, so Bolton asked if anyone had some scissors to make things go quicker. 

 Fortunately for Hart, there wasn’t enough time to give him a mohawk, but nonetheless he was a good sport about the whole thing.

Seattle radio personality Spike, suggested they just shave Hart’s facial hair, but Hart didn’t want to have anything to do with that, as he held his hands up in a gesture of “No.”

 Hart’s wife Wendy says her husband doesn’t much care for his new haircut, “But I like it,” she said.

“I’m in and out of the shower now,” Hart said due to his short hair.
 He also said it was for a good cause, and that his hair will grow back, but in the meantime his motorcycle helmet doesn’t fit the way it used to.

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