Nearly 60 big rigs took to the streets of Burford for the Special Olympics Ontario Truck Ride on Saturday, August 29, 2026.
For nearly each driver, a Special Olympics Ontario athlete rode alongside them, happily waving to those they passed.
What started as a local event in Florida in 2001 has evolved into an annual international movement in over 40 states and five provinces.
Each year, hundreds of trucks parade along Ontario’s busiest highway in support of Special Olympics. The positive attention generated by the Truck Ride helps raise funds to support athletes and programming in over 100 communities via sponsorship, community donations and fundraising pledges.
Event co-Chair Tammy Blackwell said the Ontario event was established in 2005 and has raised $1.5-million for Special Olympics Ontario since then.
“My husband is a truck driver and he had found out about what they were doing in Florida when he came home and said, ‘I think you’re going to want to hear this.’ I thought it was amazing, so we contacted the Law Enforcement Torch Run and Special Olympics and offered to hold the event for them,” she said. “They didn’t know what to think of it, they had never heard of it and had no connection to the transportation world but it’s been happening ever since. They tell us every year, ‘We have no idea why this works, but please keep doing it.’ It’s interesting too because while we don’t always have a big number of trucks, the dollar count never goes down.”
The co-Chair added that over the past 22 years, those involved have become a tight-knit group, often traveling in the day before to get together and catching up before the big event.
“We’ve become a family in these 22 years, so it’s like a reunion,” said Blackwell. “The athletes and our drivers all follow each other on social media all year round, so it’s sort of gotten bigger than itself. We’re very blessed to have the people we have involved in this.”
Leading up the event, drivers spend their time collecting pledges and raising funds, the top three fundraisers being announced on Friday night.
“The real crowning glory for the top fundraiser is getting to be the lead truck,” said Blackwell. “They get a big banner and lead the convoy on the route, while the second top fundraiser can either choose the second spot in the line, or follow behind at the back with their own banner. And if any of them have done it before, sometimes they’ll let a new driver have the experience instead.”
Blackwell said there’s just something special about the whole event that makes it rewarding for everyone involved, but particularly the truck driver community.
“When we say, ‘If you come once you’ll be hooked,’ we truly mean that,” she said. “These athletes will warm the hearts of the hardest truck driver. You can only benefit from spending time with them and that’s our reward. When people thank us for all we do, I always say, ‘no, we get more out of this than you know.’ It’s worth it to us.”
Jade Cannata, Manager for Law Enforcement Torch Run [LETR] Ontario, shared similar sentiments.
“It’s a different fundraising type of event, but it just works. These drivers are so committed and so dedicated to raising funds for Special Olympic athletes, that it’s an event that’s unmatched,” she said. “You really do have to be here to experience it and to know what it means for our Special Olympic athletes. Especially when you see the trucks going out and everybody’s waving to each other, it’s really wonderful.”
Between pledges, donations, funds from the 50/50, silent auction and raffle, it was later announced that this year’s Special Olympics Ontario Truck Ride raised $154,000.
Funds from the event, along with other LETR events like the Polar Plunge, will go towards supporting athletes in over 100 communities.
“In those communities we have the Law Enforcement Torch Run volunteers. They are active members of policing agencies and there’s 7,500 across the province,” said Cannata. “What they do is they volunteer their time to put on events throughout the entire year to raise funds specifically for Special Olympic athletes, and those funds go towards the programming that happens all year round, every day of the week. Last year we raised a record-breaking $3.2 million for Special Olympics Ontario, and if it weren’t for those volunteers, our athletes wouldn’t be able to do what they do.”
After arriving back from the convoy, athletes and their families, drivers, and volunteers alike all sat down to eat lunch together. Many spent the time in between getting their faces painted, stopping by for a balloon creation, or snagging a photo with Brantford Bulldogs mascot Bruiser.
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.
