Evergreen Highlighted in Galveston Daily News

November 6, 2011

Annual event takes on corporate feel

By T.J. Aulds

The Galveston County Daily News

Published November 6, 2011

GALVESTON — The roar of the engines for the Lone Star Rally signals the return of more than 100,000 two-wheelers to the island for what's become one of the biggest motorcycle events in the south. For many, the rally is more than a fun time. It's a chance to make money.

From the stores, bars and restaurants that line the downtown streets and Seawall Boulevard to the vendors and corporations that use the rally as a means to entertain clients, the rally is more a corporate event than a bastion of rebel bikers.

"It's fun getting people together to be able to network," Jon Hodges, president and owner of Evergreen Industrial Services said as he surveyed his company's party in a parking lot on Market Street across from the headquarters of American National Insurance Corp.

This was the eighth year that Hodges' company, which provides environmental services for petrochemical facilities in the region, used the rally as a backdrop for entertaining clients. The festivities begin with a bike ride that starts at Evergreen's corporate headquarters in La Porte and ends in downtown Galveston.

"It's a way to bring together the foremen and the workers at these plants that are our clients," Hodges said. "It brings them together, but it is just a blast."

It's the type of fun Hodges can't put a sales figure to but knows it goes a long way in building loyalty from his clients. It's become one of the company's best direct marketing tools and it's growing.

"When we started, we had 50 riders," Hodges said. "This year, we had 615 bikes and 1,500 people."

Pictured: Jon Hodges, President and CEO of Evergreen, along with employees Juliet, Toni & Jennifer who helped organize the "Ride to the Rally" event for 2011.

Since the year 2000, Evergreen Industrial Services has provided industrial cleaning services to chemical plants, refineries, and petrochemical plants in the Gulf Coast. Evergreen Industrial Services has offices in La Porte, Beaumont/Nederland, Texas City, Corpus Christi, Texas and Westlake, Louisiana.

For more information about the Ride to the Rally, please contact Evergreen Industrial Services at 281-478-5800 or visit the website at www.evergreenes.com