Yup! It was that time again for the Wise County Toy Run! What a great event to attend for the year and for a wonderful cause. Riders from all over showed up to give toys for children. It's exciting to see so many riders come together to support a great cause.
The toy run starts in Decatur, TX which is the staging area. Admission and the ride is free if you bring a toy or $10 if you just want to pay. Margaret and I pay instead of bringing a toy. The organizers need funding to run the event so we contribute in that way instead. When the ride portion begins it is police escorted for the safety of the riders and heads to Bridgeport, TX. The Santa on the Harley leading it usually arrives at Bridgeport about the time the last of the attendees leaves the staging area in Decatur. The ride is 10.8 miles long so when you consider the amount of bikes it takes to cover that distance from end to end its quite impressive.
It's such a big event that people park along the road in preparation to see the bikes. You'll see people along the entire route taking video, waving, and enjoying the bikes as they pass. I like that its not just isolated to riders. When communities get involved the entire run becomes more of a landmark event than a bike event alone. Riders will carry bags of candy and throw it to the kids as they ride by which brings excitement for the kids. This really helps to make the ride a community event with everyone participating and showing their supporting. It's basically a 10.8 mile parade that stretches between the two towns.
Once you arrive in Bridgeport, TX and park you head to the pavilion where all the action is taking place. This is where you drop off your toys as well. It is incredible to see the amount of toys everyone is giving. The workers are almost frantic trying to keep up with how many toys riders are being dropped off. There is always hot chili to help take the edge off the chill from the ride. Various booths are scattered around that sell leather goods, patches, t-shirts, and other miscellaneous stuff. The usual 50/50 and raffles for items are present as well. One MC had a tent setup with support gear as well. I am also very grateful that the event organizers are still American patriots and pause the event for the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of the National Anthem.
That's only an overview of the toy run. When your involved it becomes much larger. The attendance was huge this year. I can only speculate as to the number of bikes involved. I'm sure the organizers have a better grasp of this than I would possibly be able to. Suffice to say though, it seemed to be larger than the previous years I have attended. This year one of the Christian MC's brought a huge trailer and provided live music along with prayer at the staging area.
There was tremendous support from area MC's along with independents and riding groups. We tried to get pictures of as many of the clubs that rode in the event as possible so we could highlight their involvement. While roaming the staging area we took as many pictures as we could in an attempt to capture the essence of the event. The more media we can make available means possibly more attendance next year as people can better visualize whats going on.
Because Margaret and I were both taking pictures we decided to combine our photo media and link to the same album from both of our sites. Video however will be independent of each other so you'll have to visit each site for that, and our write-ups too! Visit This Lady Rides for Margaret's write-up and video. We uploaded the pictures at a very high resolution so you can download them if you see something you like and want to make a print from it. The pictures are free but we do ask if you use them that you give us credit by including the link to our sites as a courtesy.
Wise County Toy Run 2014 Video
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