VALDOSTA — Every year on the third Saturday in December, hundreds of motorcycles — many carrying gifts or riders dressed as Santa Claus — heading up U.S. 41 from Lake Park to Valdosta has become a familiar sight, and sound, in Lowndes County.

This is the Outback Riders Toy Ride, now entering its 30th year.

For almost three decades, motorcyclists have paid an entry fee of one new, unwrapped toy to join the ride. This year’s ride takes place Dec. 17.

Donated toys can also be dropped off at the ride’s starting point, the Roger Budd Lake Park Plaza, or at the ending point at Five Points Shopping Center in Valdosta, said Rick Folsom, one of the event’s organizers.

For most of its life, the toy ride started at the large plaza in Lake Park, but two years ago it launched from the parking lot of Cowboy’s Firepit Bar and Grill, but after the plaza was purchased by Budd organizers were able to once again secure the plaza parking lot.

The ride moved back to the plaza after the parking lot at Cowboy’s proved too small, he said.

The toys go to the Salvation Army to help the Empty Stocking Fund. “It all stays local,” Folsom said.

For the riders, there will also be door prizes and a 50-50 contest; half of any cash raised will become the contest’s prize while the other half will go toward paying expenses for the following year’s toy ride, he said.

In an average year, about 800 riders take part, though ridership varies depending “on Mother Nature and the economy,” Folsom said.

Riders have come from as far as Minnesota, he said.

“We have one couple in Tennessee that comes down to Florida each year to see family and stops off to take part in the ride,” Folsom said.