How to go
To ride in the Hero’s Ride, visit www.herosride.com. Registration will be accepted until the day of the ride, Saturday, Aug. 29.
FAIRFIELD — The annual Hero’s Ride is Saturday, Aug. 29, and is a chance for the community to support wounded troops, and remember the community’s lost heroes.
“This is not just for motorcyclists,” said Stacy Wene, an event organizer. “We just want the public to come out.”
Registration for the motorcycle ride begins around 9 a.m. Saturday and riders will depart from the Fairfield Village Green around 1 p.m. to Hueston Woods. The convoy will return around 4 p.m. for a silent auction and the concert. Mayor Ron D’Epfianio and Dick Lynch of Impact a Hero will speak before the performances.
The ride will benefit Impact a Hero and will be conducted in honor of: Marine Lance Cpl. Taylor Prazynski died on May 9, 2005; Army Pfc. Timothy J. Hines died on July 14, 2005; Marine Lance Cpl. Michael Cifuentes died on Aug. 3, 2005; Marine Lance Cpl. William D. Spencer, formerly of Cincinnati, who died in Dec. 2006; and Army Pfc. James H. Miller, of Cincinnati, died in Jan. 2008.
“Over the years it’s grown because of the number of soldiers we have from the local area that have been killed,” said ride coordinator Bill Meyer said.
Symmes Tavern on the Green plans to serve breakfast beginning at 9 a.m. for a nominal fee. A prayer will be said before the ride takes off from Village Green Park, Wene said.
The ride will end with a free concert starting at 4:30 p.m. Kevin Clark will lead off the music, followed by 2005 Fairfield Idol Ashley Brandenburg at 6 p.m. and Fairfield native Brady Seals at 8 p.m.
In the ride’s first four years, almost $36,800 has been raised for the organization that offers emotional and financial support for wounded and disabled veterans and their families.
The ride is $20 per bike and $5 per passenger. The first 300 pre-registered drivers will receive a ride T-shirt and pin. Day of registration is $25 per driver and $5 per passenger.
Last year’s ride
The 2008 event was conducted on Sept. 14, the day hurricane-force winds blew through the area. Two riders — Tom and Stephanie Bobinger — died when a tree at Hueston Woods in Oxford (the turn-around point) fell on them. Fairfield fire Chief Don Bennett, Stephanie’s father, said the organizers debated canceling the event.
“I believe sincerely to this day and the rest of my life that the outcome of that day was in God’s hands and no one else’s,” Bennett said. “I know particularly that my daughter would be devastated if she knew because of the accident that the ride would be curtailed. It’s just not something they would have wanted.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5112 or mpitman@coxohio.com.
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