For years, Mike Wilson was a successful owner of Okie Doke BBQ and Catering.

But he was also a successful competitor in the cooking category in Bikes, Wings and Warriors, winning many awards.

In the 12th annual Bikes, Wings and Warriors event on June 27 at the VFW Post 4436 building in Montgomery City, an award was presented in Wilson’s honor. It was given to his family that included Traci Wilson, daughter Jolene Spreckelmeyer, son-in-law Wes Spreckelmeyer and grandsons Ean, Ezra and Eli Johnson.

Wilson passed away on May 1 of stage 4 lung cancer. He owned Okie Doke for seven years before the building was closed in June 2025. His business had a store front in Martinsburg and did catering in Montgomery County.

Jim Mills, who was on the committee that started Bikes, Wings and Warriors 12 years ago, was pretty emotional when he presented the award to the Wilson family.

“He was a good friend of mine,” said Mills, who retired as owner at Montgomery Hardware last year. “He cooked from the first year until they went into business for themselves as a caterer in Martinsburg.”

Mills said Wilson played a big part in the history of Bikes, Wings and Warriors, which began in 2014. Wilson had first-place finishes in the trophy division and the People’s Choice category.

“We appreciate everything he did to support this event,” Mills said.

For many hours. Bikes, Wings and Warriors held a wing cookoff and bike show and served plenty of food such as wings, funnel cakes and kettle corn. The event also had a gun raffle, a live auction and music that was played by DJ Tee Square. Proceeds of the event go to VFW Post 4436 to help local veterans.
Bikes, Wings and Warriors has been held every year since 2020, when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the VFW’s biggest fundraiser that helps with other events it does throughout the year.

New VFW Post 4436 Commander Dave Wojtkiewicz was the head organizer of this year’s event. He said he enjoyed meeting all of the cookers.

“We had people from St. Louis, Columbia, Laddonia, Vandalia and Montgomery City,” Wojtkiewicz said. “I got to meet a lot of good people. It started out slow, but when people realized that the weather was going to hold off, they started coming out. All of the cookers sold out of wings. The post sold out of wings and brats. We had only eight porkburgers left, so the post did really well.”

Wojtkiewicz said the event had a small turnout for the motorcycle competition.

“We had six (people) sign up for the competition, so we had $120 from that,” he said. “The guy who won the Best of Show (Bobby Choate) had taken his bike somewhat apart (the day before) and cleaned it and polished it. When he rode it down, he ran through the rain and had to polish it up again once it got here. So he worked hard in being Best In Show."