Food trucks, live music, and motorcycle engines accelerate, all to celebrate the 20th Annual Cyclists Parade, an event organized by the American Hometown Veterans Association to raise funds to help local and state Veterans and first responders.

The event took place on Sunday, starting at Santa Fe College at 8 am and ending at the Gainesville Circuit, where food trucks and live music by local Gainesville artists Clay Brooker and Cliff Dorsey celebrated veterans and First responders, they all play popular country songs.

Cyclists have celebrated every year since 2001, and until the COVID hit last year, they had to take a year off, but the parade is back and will continue. This year's planning took four months to complete and included a team of approximately 35 people. BOP has a 10-person committee dedicated to making this event possible, and this year approximately 25 external volunteers joined the cause.

Travis Harvey, president and event organizer of AHVA, said: "I see the vision, and the team is the reason for the task."

AHVA is a non-profit organization that aims to help veterans and first responders get through financial difficulties and get them back on their feet. They help the school's first responders through local scholarships and provide services such as clothes and car repairs to all veterans.

Under the American flag fluttering in the wind, a row of motorcycles lined up on a large parking lot in the venue. People can walk through the aisles of different bicycles to see them.

More than 200 riders participated in the event. Participants paid US$20 for each cyclist and US$10 for each passenger. All of these proceeds were donated to local and state veterans and food trucks during the event. Part of sales. Food trucks include pizza from DB's Rolling Dough and Thai food from Eim Thai food truck. Burkhardt also donated beer.

The spacious venue was packed with all the family members, friends and veterans who attended, as well as tents from different associations, such as Milton Lewis Young Marines, who taught boys and girls aged 8 to 18 to "confident, live a healthy, non-toxic lifestyle." "

Among these tents, there is a non-profit organization Outdoor Valor, which provides all veterans with a full guided fishing experience for free. They focus on veterans receiving PTSD treatment. "Our motto is to liberate the minds of our soldiers one fish at a time," said Matt Schwank, president of Outdoor Valor. Other tents scattered throughout the event space include companies such as Vitas and Everan Technologies, which use nerve stimulation to treat veterans with PTSD.

Among the riders, family and friends, about 300 people attended, all of whom were supporting veterans in need.

"I have a lot of friends who have served. I have seen what they sacrifice and give up for service, so I do my best to serve them... My gratitude, you know, thank you very much, "Jacob Bryan said, an event participant.

The event ended around 4 pm and raised more than $20,000 for local and state veterans.

After correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the organization provided scholarships to veterans instead of first responders, and beer trucks sold beer.

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