Recently over 630 motorcyclists made their annual ride through the Lehigh Valley, from Northampton to the Fountain Hill campus of St. Luke’s University Health Network, participating in the seventh Tucker’s Toy Run to deliver nearly 1,000 toys for the hospital’s pediatric patients.

Organized by Rick Nauman, the annual event is a tribute to Tucker Stuart, a motorcyclist who died in a 2011 motorcycle accident.

Four vehicles filled with toys accompanied the bikers, who in some cases also transported toys on their motorcycles. The donations were loaded into cribs and bins from which they were distributed to pediatric patients throughout the St. Luke’s network.

Each year, anticipation builds as the impressive convoy of motorcycles approaches on Ostrum Street, escorted by public safety vehicles from most of the communities they pass through. Bikes are decorated for Christmas and many carry riders along for the uplifting experience and a few celebrities like Santa Claus, one of Santa’s elves and even the Grinch.

St. Luke’s staff offered refreshments to the participants, three of whom came from as far away as Morgantown, W.Va. this year.

Nauman announced to hospital officials and riders that Tucker’s Toy Run would return for an eighth year in November 2018.