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Blue Ride raises money for local charities

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Carole DeAngelo/Observer-Reporter

A participant in Sunday’s Blue Ride exits North Strabane Township Volunteer Fire Department as the event gets under way.

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Carole DeAngelo/Observer-Reporter

Motorcyclists head out on to Route 19 Sunday as the Blue Ride gets under way.

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Photo courtesy of Lara Maloney

This year’s Blue Rid attracted 474 participants.

Since 2004, the hills around the city of Washington have been alive with a distinctive sound on the last Sunday in July.

The sound of motorcycles.

That’s when the Blue Knights International Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club Chapter 16 has its annual Blue Ride from the North Strabane Township Volunteer Fire Department station on Route 19 to the American Legion post on Park Avenue. A fundraiser for an array of local charities, it has raised more than $500,000 since its inception.

This past Sunday, there were 474 cyclists that participated, according to Dave Richards, the ride’s chairman. Consisting of current and former law enforcement officers, the number of participants was somewhat lower this year as a result of the coronavirus.

“Everybody that attended was provided with a mask,” Richards said.

The charities that benefit from the Blue Ride include the Salvation Army, Blueprints, and Washington City Mission, among many other organizations. Given the toll the coronavirus has exacted on both the health and economic well-being of many people in the region, the money raised by the Blue Ride will be particularly important this year, Richards said.

“That’s why we tried to get the event in,” Richards said. “It’s been a tough year for everybody. And the Blue Riders like to do good things.”

The Blue Knights was formed in Maine in 1974 with the idea of promoting the use of motorcycles and creating a bond between retired and current law enforcement officers and the public. The organization now has chapters as far afield as Canada and Australia, with all its chapters estimated to have raised more than $18 million for charity over the last 46 years.

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