9-11 ride tradition brings locals together
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(Editor's Note: The annual Lycoming County 9-11 Memorial Ride requires more planning, coordination, cooperation and effort than anyone can imagine. The highly-anticipated and supported ride brings together several thousand motorcyclists each year. Williamsport Sun-Gazette is offering a series of articles on what is required to ensure riders get home safe and sound, and that the purpose of the ride -- to never forget the events of 9-11 -- echoes loudly in the minds and hearts of the citizens of Lycoming County.)
"It's almost like a mission."
That is how Tank Baird, president of the 9-11 Memorial Coalition, described the event to mark the attack on America on Sept. 11, 2001, an event which brings together thousands of motorcyclists for a pre-ride ceremony and a 42-mile route through 14 municipalities in Lycoming County.
The riders are greeted by adoring residents waving back and holding flags as well as those standing watching the spectacle.
"People are expecting you to be at a certain place," Baird said, of what has for the coalition members become a public service and tradition.
"They are following the ride by radio, listening to chatter on the police and firefighters' scanner and, from past rides, they pretty much know the time when the riders will be at a certain location because it's only about an hour or so long," Baird said.
Lycoming County Sheriff Mark Lusk, who leads the procession, estimated that crowds about five years ago along the route to be at least 20,000.
Todd Winder, chief of the event host Clinton Township Fire Co., and Bair recalled the year when a flood decimated communities living in floodplains near the West Branch of the Susquehanna River and its tributaries.
Residents in the boroughs of Montoursville and Muncy and in Muncy Creek Township, were clearing out mud and damage of the overflowing water during Tropical Storm Lee in 2011.
The damage was so widespread that it was up in the air as to whether the green bridge to Broad Street in Montoursville would be open.
A question hung in the air that went unanswered up until about 15 minutes before the column roared off.
The state Department of Transportation hadn't given the green light on whether it would reopen the green metal bridge spanning Loyalsock Creek between Loyalsock Township and Montoursville.
"We were literally fly-by-night as to how we were going to go around the green bridge or get across the creek because we sure as hell didn't want to get on the interstate," Winder said.
Nobody knew until within 10 to 15 minutes of the riders leaving from the fire station whether the route would be changed and South Broad Street in Montoursville also was not in the best condition. A water truck cleared off the mud caked on the road surface.
For the riders, however, it was a revealing hour and a half, as they noticed the patriotic spirit was in full force.
Untold numbers of residents had lost their belongings and still took the time out to watch the riders for their evening of tradition and share in the thunderous moving tribute.
Riders waved back at those who had suffered the enormous property damage.
"They had couches out on the lawns where people were still cleaning off their personal belongings and took the time to stick a flag in the flag holder and stand there and salute and wave," Winder said.
The motorcyclists encountered residents and business owners shoveling mud out of their houses and properties. A group from Kentucky rode that year.
After the ride, the head of that group got off his motorcycle at the fire station and was overcome with emotion.
"He had tears streaming down his face," Baird said.
He was awestruck. He said 'all those people lost all their belongings,' and there were piles of debris including water logged furniture, rugs and personal items along the front of their houses and businesses to be taken away.
The coalition members also will forever be grateful to the communities that cooperated to ensure the ride took place in the wake of the tropical storm damage.
Former Montoursville mayor and longtime resident John Dorin went above and beyond to make sure the bridge was open, Baird said.
The motorcyclists are connected in a way as are those watching. On any given year, there are cars lined up along the opposite side of the highway to observe, and there also was a year when the motorcyclists encountered a silent showing by Pennsylvania College of Technology students, many of whom lined up and stood quietly as the processing went by them.
"They weren't waving American flags or hooting and hollering, they just were solemn," Baird said, adding, "It was their interpretation of what we were doing when we drove by."
"There was no emotion but then you drove down a few more blocks and the people were standing," Baird said. "Some were jumping up and down waving flags, others waving back to us and talking to us if they were able to get us to stop for a second at a light. This symbiotic relationship is the binding tie that keeps us going year after year."
Retired Williamsport Bureau of Police Agent Lenny Dincher told Baird that he could think of nowhere else where that many people are watching that many motorcyclists gathered together and riding in tribute to such a seminal and historical time in American and world history.
"I think if people weren't along the route the riders might not come," Winder said.
The event is a powerful demonstration of the binding relationship between motorcyclists who are patriots and those in Lycoming County -- including military veterans and their families, retirees and individuals who just want to cheer as they watch it roll by.