Roar on the Shore 2012 Bike Rally

Vanilla Ice to Lead 2012 Bringin’ in the Roar Bike Parade

ERIE – Rob Van Winkle, better known to music and reality TV fans as Vanilla Ice, will serve as the grand marshal for the 2012 Bringin’ in the Roar Bike parade, the official kickoff for the sixth annual Roar on the Shore® motorcycle rally, set for July 19, 20 & 21 in downtown Erie.

Vanilla Ice exploded on the pop scene in 1990 with “Ice Ice Baby,” the first hip hop single to top the Billboard Hot 100 charts. His album “To the Extreme,” which sold more than 17 million copies and spent 16 weeks at the top of the album charts, still holds the record as the highest selling rap record ever. One of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People in the World’ (1991), Ice also appeared on the big and small screens, starring in “The New Guy,” “The Helix…Loaded,” Fox’s “Celebrity Boxing,” the WB’s “Surreal Life,” and NBC’s “Hit Me Baby One More Time.”

More recently, he has experienced a mainstream resurgence, attracting fans of all ages as host of the home-makeover series “The Vanilla Ice Project” on the DIY Network. A second season of the show, which first debuted in October 2010, began airing in January. Ice also will return to film in the Adam Sandler comedy “Donny’s Boy,” which is set to be released in June.

“The Bringin’ in the Roar parade is one of the highlights of the Roar on the Shore® weekend,” said rally spokeswoman Tammy Polanski. “We are thrilled to welcome Vanilla Ice to Erie to lead thousands of bikes through the streets of Erie as a kickoff to three days of bikes, regional rides androck ‘n’ roll.”

Last year’s rally – one of the fastest-growing free rallies in the country – drew more than 80,000 motorcycle enthusiasts to the shores of Lake Erie, and along with other fundraising events throughout the year, raised approximately $300,000 for the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

For more information about Roar on the Shore®, visit www.roarontheshore.com.