When Jim Ouellette received a text message indicating he had won a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle from a contest he entered online, he thought he was being scammed.
And despite receiving a corresponding email about the win, it still took Ouellette 36 hours and several phone calls to be convinced it wasn't a hoax.
"I was sitting on Facebook one morning scrolling through and I saw that Blackbridge Harley-Davidson had a contest, so I thought I'd enter it," Ouellette said.
"I've liked bikes all my life and liked to look at Harley's. They're beautiful bikes."
The contest was put on by Harley-Davidson Canada and the Canadian Hockey League as a promotional partnership.
Of the over 14,000 entries, Ouellette's name was chosen at random to receive the 2024 Sharkskin Blue Road Glide.
"I was sitting in my doctor's office and got a text message from this guy from the United States saying he sent me an email," Ouellette said.
"I just shut my phone off and thought 'whatever.' If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."
After reading the email and not seeing anything suspicious, Ouellette filled out the attached form and sent it back. He then received a phone call from the president of Harley-Davidson Canada and that's when he started to believe it.
But it wasn't until he called Blackbridge and they looked into it for him that it finally set in.
"I was beside myself," Ouellette said.
"My son rides Harley's in West Virginia, he went ballistic."
Erin Mitchell, owner and general manager of Blackbridge Harley-Davidson, was thrilled to see a local resident win the competition.
"We were so excited to hear that one of our customers was the big winner," Mitchell said.
"We took over Blackbridge in 2019 and our goal as one of the few remaining independently owned and operated dealerships was focusing on building a culture and community of ridership. So, to have one of our customers win when it's so rooted in who we are as an organization, it's mind blowing."
After taking over possession of the motorcycle at a ceremony this morning, Ouellette said he plans to break in the bike before taking a road trip to visit his son.
