Bikers came from as far away as West Virginia, New Jersey and New York to participate.

The ninth annual Tucker’s Toy Run was held Nov. 2, as sunny weather encouraged over 700 bikers to make the ride from Northampton to St. Luke’s University Hospital’s Fountain Hill campus to deliver well over a thousand toys for pediatric patients throughout the hospital’s system.

“The success we have is because of all of you,” said organizer Rick Nauman.

The event is run through the Lehigh Valley Community Benefit organization and honors the memory of Tucker Stuart, who died in a motorcycle crash in 2011. In addition to the hundreds of motorcyclists on their bikes, the impressive procession also included about a half dozen vans and trucks packed with toys for the kids. The toys delivered are then distributed to the nine, soon to be 10, hospital campuses where children are treated or hospitalized.

Upon their arrival, the bikers unload the toys into pediatric cribs and laundry carts, and bikers are treated to refreshments provided by nurses and the hospital’s cafeteria. A new feature for 2019 was a raffle that offered 10 cash prizes and a grand prize of a 2019 Harley Davidson Soft Tail Deluxe motorcycle.