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Votorcycles traveled from Norden Place in Norwalk to Seaside Park in Bridgeport for the annual CT United Ride on Sept. 8, 2019.
Brian Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media file photo
When the 20th annual CT United Ride rumbles through most of Fairfield County Saturday, riders will notice a number of changes.
The ride will depart from Sherwood Island State Park in Westport. The ride’s traditional Norwalk start is unavailable due to a large number of construction vehicles being stored on the site. A film crew will be document the event, and organizers will make a charitable donation on behalf of the community with the best spectator turnout.
For the first time, the annual ride and anniversary will align, said organizer Fred Garrity, of Trumbull.
“I have that conversation every year,” Garrity said of a calendar quirk that occurred due to the first ride taking place in 2001, a few weeks after the 9/11 terror attacks. Thus, the second annual ride took place in 2002, on the first anniversary of the attacks.
Last year’s ride was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the skipped year means that this year’s 20th annual ride will take place on Saturday, Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary.
The CT United Ride is a fundraiser for charities related to first responders. Garrity said it is the largest 9/11 tribute in Connecticut, and the largest motorcycle ride in New England.
“We think this will be our largest ever turnout,” Garrity said. The event typically draws about 2,000 riders for the uninterrupted, police-escorted nonstop ride that ends at Bridgeport’s Seaside Park. “The previous largest turnout was in 2011, the 10th anniversary, which fell on the date, and drew over 4,000 riders. This year is the 20th anniversary, and again it falls on Sept. 11, and we’ve heard that riders are coming in from all over the East Coast.”
Registration for the event is $30 per rider or passenger. Participants can register at Captain’s Cove in Bridgeport on Friday, Sept. 10 from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., or at Sherwood Island the morning of the ride from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.
The opening ceremony and 9/11 tribute will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 11 and will feature the CT State Firefighters Pipe and Drum Corps, the tolling of a fire bell, and a starting arch consisting of a 50-foot American flag suspended between two fire ladder trucks.
The motorcade is expected to begin at 11:30, and proceed directly to Interstate 95, proceeding one exit south to Route 136 in Westport.
From Route 136, the ride will resume its traditional route through Westport, Wilton, Redding, Bethel, Newtown, Monroe, Trumbull, Fairfield and Bridgeport, arriving at Seaside Park about 1:15 p.m. In all, up to 25 fire companies and 35 police departments are involved in the ride.
The 60-mile ride is nonstop, rain or shine, along a closed route, with riders escorted by police and proceeding through intersections and stop lights without stopping. Motorists are required to wait for the entire motorcade to pass, until the last emergency vehicle passes. Motorcyclists are not allowed to join the ride in progress, and those in the ride are discouraged from exiting the route.
The full route is available at the ride’s website, ctunitedride.com.
As an added charitable aspect of this year’s ride, the community with the most enthusiastic spectator support will have a $2,500 charitable donation made on behalf of the community to a nonprofit agency to be selected by that community’s mayor or first selectman.
“We’re going to see which town has the most spectators, and the most people lining the side of the road with their red, white and blue,” Garrity said.