MONTGOMERY, Pa. — The 9/11 Memorial Coalition's motorcycle ride typically draws thousands of people to Lycoming County.
For the last 20 years, the 9/11 Memorial Coalition has held a motorcycle ride in the Montgomery area to remember the lives lost in 2001. The 42-mile ride draws thousands of people.
"We've had a high of ... 9,000 motorcycles," said coalition president Tank Baird.
But that will not be the case this year. The coalition was told it needed a special permit for this year's ride because of COVID-19.
"Basically made it impossible to permit this ride and if you can't permit the ride you can't do traffic control," Baird explained.
"The Facebook pages and our emails are blowing up, 'Just call it a protest and the governor will ride with you.' It's not that simple because what are you protesting on 9/11? Why are you riding on that day?" said Clinton Township Volunteer Fire Chief Todd Winder.
There are several protest rides taking place on 9/11, but the memorial coalition tells Newswatch 16 it does not approve of this.
"This is a scary thing to us," Baird said.
The sanctioned ride normally rolls through 15 different municipalities. Typically, some intersections and roadways are blocked off for the riders to keep them safe. Members of the memorial coalition are worried the unsanctioned protest rides might ruin their safety reputation.
"For people just to get out there and go through intersections and potentially cause traffic accidents or worse, could jeopardize the entire coalition's 20 years of work," said Rev. Gary Smith, coalition vice president.
Coalition members hope to make their official 2021 ride bigger and better than ever.