Teller County Celebrates 32nd Annual Veterans’ Rally/Motorcycle Ride
Trevor Phipps
Soon the roars of armies of mega “Hogs” will echo through the canyon walls, surrounding Teller County, and American flags will dot the landscape in a major way.
This weekend, it’s biker and veterans’ weekend. Moreover, it’s that time of year for area residents and visitors to take a break from their normal routines by celebrating and remembering those who risked it all to keep the country free.
Known as one of the region’s most popular events, the 32nd annual Salute to American Veterans Rally and the 37th annual POW/MIA (motorcycle) Recognition ride blasts through the Ute Pass region starting Friday at 10 in the morning at Memorial Park in Woodland Park. Due to the high number of military veterans living in Teller County, “Colorado’s Largest Procession of motorcycles” and the events surrounding it dedicated just to them seems to attract support from the entire community.
Pro Promotions, the event organizers, this year welcomes the “Task Force Curahee” featured in the film “Band of Brothers” for the organization’s 20th reunion. The group that will be honored during the POW/MIA Remembrance Ceremony plans to bring more than 200 people to the event.
The annual festival has a storied and colorful history in Teller County.
According to Pam Wear, Pro Promotions Vice President and co-founder of the event, the history of the motorcycle ride and Salute Rally reaches back to the 1980s. The ride started in 1988 and received so much attendance that the rally emerged five years later.
Wear said that the story started when Pam and her husband Jim Wear owned a motorcycle shop called High Country Custom Cycles in Colorado Springs in the late 1980s. “We had some POW/MIA items for sale, patches and different things, and we had some college students come in,” Wear remembered. “One young lady said, ‘What’s a POW/MIA?’ And we were like ok, we have some educating to do. We put POW/MIA flags on our bike and we had six or eight people. We roared around Colorado College campus on a Sunday. The next year it was 50 bikes and that’s how it started.”
Wear said that in the last few years, the event has been very weather-dependent and that since it is a free event it is hard to estimate how many people will attend. In the past, the ride alone has seen anywhere from 800 to 1,200 motorcycle riders.
Event-Packed Weekend Starts Friday
The action-packed weekend kicks off at 10 a.m. Friday with the Red Friday t-shirt giveaway at Woodland Park’s Memorial Park. The vendors will be open at the same time along with start to the Last Bike Out Poker Run.
The beer garden opens at noon and visitors will get the chance to check out official merchandise until 5 p.m. There will also be bids accepted for a silent auction and a Veterans’ Signature wall for those who served to sign.
Then on Saturday, the bikers start lining up for breakfast in the Woodland Park High School parking lot at 7 a.m. The ride then leaves the City Above the Clouds with an escort from the Colorado State Patrol at 10 a.m. with an expected arrival in Cripple Creek at 11 a.m.
The vendors at Memorial Park will be open starting at 9 a.m. and the beer garden opens at 11 a.m. with a Michael Tetrick LIVE performance. The POW/MIA Remembrance Ceremony then starts at 12:30 p.m.
“Three bronze plaques will be dedicated; the Task Force, Roy Box US Army Veteran, Gerald “Jay” Cimino, US Marine,” according to a Pro Promotions press release regarding Saturday’s remembrance event. “Also, as part of the ceremony, we will hear the tolling of the Colorado Honor Bell and recognize several honored guests. The Rally Committee encourages all rally attendees and Teller County citizens to attend.”
The festivities continue in Woodland Park with the Retro Mental band playing from 2 to 4 p.m. and the U.S. Army “Mile High” rock band performing from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Then on Sunday, many event attendees will make their way back up to Cripple Creek for another ceremony honoring veterans.
This event, sponsored by the city of Cripple Creek, provides a great final addition to the Salute Rally weekend.
The event organizer Wear said that they are excited to bring the event back to the region and celebrate the route from Woodland Park to Cripple Creek as the section of South Highway 67 running from Divide to Cripple Creek officially received the POW/MIA Memorial Highway designation in 2013. “We encourage the public to line the roadway with flags like they always do,” Wear said. “It’s a very moving experience to go on the ride and having all of those people welcoming yo
