The 21st annual Charity Motorcycle Ride for Lansdowne Kids will be taking place on Saturday, June 28, 2025.
This year’s big fundraising event will include a breakfast (peameal bacon on a bun) and hot lunch from Strodes BBQ and Deli, police-escorted group ride motorcycle tour, live music and entertainment from BarCode, as well as several local and regional vendors.
The 90-minute scenic tour will kick off at Brimich Logistics out on 15 Kraemer’s Way in Brantford at 11:00 a.m., and travel throughout Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk counties before returning back to the starting line for the rest of the festivities.
Bob Caissie, a long-standing supporter of Lansdowne Children’s Centre, first started the event over 20 years ago to help raise money for the foundation’s greatest needs and since then, the event has become one of Lansdowne’s most important fundraising events of the year.
While typically put on by the Lansdowne Children’s Centre Foundation, in 2024, the organization announced that it would be stepping back as event organizer, leaving the future of the event up in the air.
It’s because of Ensuring Brant, a not-for-profit community association of volunteers, the event is continuing on.
With many members having been part of the ride in the past, as well as some whose families have been Lansdowne clients as well, the group was inspired to take over the event.
“I told them, ‘we’re not letting this die, we’re going to fix it because everyone enjoys coming out to it and it helps the kids,’” said Brian Kinrade, President of Ensuring Brant. “That was in July, and then in August, we all got together, and I said, ‘look we can do this, the blue print is already there. My two sons went to Lansdowne for speech therapy and I think everyone’s been, in some way, touched by that organization at some point of their life.”
After talking to various police departments and getting everyone on board, Kinrade said everything else just fell into place.
“The only obstacle we really had was getting the insurance, which put us a few months behind with attendance and sponsorships, but we still have time for all of that to pick up,” he said. “This first year may not be as large as it has been in the past, especially when we don’t know what the weather will be like, but we’ve already locked in the date for the next five years so I have no doubt everything will return to normal as we go on.”
The one thing that has changed for the event is the time of year it’s typically held.
“Usually it’s held at the beginning of July but we pushed it up a bit to the fourth Saturday of June,” said Kinrade. “I just figured, what better way to start the kids’ summer holidays than with a ride they know is for them.”
As far as this year’s schedule, the rider registration, check-in and breakfast will start at 9:00 a.m., and kickstands go up at 11:00 a.m.
Riders are expected to arrive back around 12:30 p.m. where lunch will be served and the live music continues.
For those looking to partake in the ride, online registration will be open until the night before, however you can still register the day of on site.
Over all, Kinrade said he and the team are looking forward to another great year, and encourages everyone to get involved.
“We’re just really excited, like I said, I’m happy that we could keep it going for Lansdowne and we’ll try to keep it going for another 20 years,” he said.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
