Santa Claus made an appearance at a variety of Christmas events around Dartmouth this weekend, but there was only one in which he sat atop a cherry red motorcycle.

Minuteman Harley-Davidson, located on 799 State Road, got into the spirit of giving on Santa Day, an event that brought two different groups together to supply children in need with toys this Christmas.

The Ladies of Harley were there with an array of baked goods and wrapping paper. The ladies wrapped items purchased at the shop for free, but any donations would benefit kids.

The group had previously assembled and distributed Thanksgiving baskets to needy families. This month the women plan to buy gifts for the children of those recipients with money collected during Santa Day.

“The Ladies of Harley are the women of the Harley’s owners group,” said Carolyn Picanzo. “We do bake sales, rides – whatever we can do for charity.”

She said the group has always been apart of Minuteman, but the Ladies of Harley became a larger institution in 2013.

“When I first started, it was kind of hard to get women to join. A lot of them didn’t have bikes,” said Picanzo. “But now a majority of them do.”

“We’re all one happy family. Everybody pulls together if somebody needs something, we’re there for them,” she added.

Outside, Jerry Pinto had parked his school bus in hopes of filling it with toys through the Fill the Bus Toy Drive program. Pinto, a bus driver in the New Bedford school system, has been collecting toys for years, but this holiday season he’s expanding the program beyond New Bedford.

“We deal with the police department and educators in the schools so we know which kids are the neediest,” said Pinto. “The schools will distribute the [toys] a couple days before Christmas.”

The program officially kicked off on Santa Day at Minuteman Harley. It’s part of the anti-bullying initiative Safe Zones, of which Pinto is the founder and director.

“After I started driving a bus, I got a feel for where these kids are coming from. A lot of these people struggle to make it. They’re good people, it’s just hard times, unfortunately,” he said.

The Fill the Bus program will roll back into Dartmouth on Dec. 12 with some help from the Dartmouth Police Department. The bus will be located in the parking lot of Darth Youth Activities Association’s baseball fields at 4 Russell’s Mills Road from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.