LAKE PARK — Despite weather concerns and a pandemic, a nearly three-decade-old Lowndes County Christmas tradition is still on track to kick off Saturday, Dec. 19.

The 28th Annual Outback Riders Toy Ride gets underway at 1:15 p.m. with the blessing of the bikes, followed by the riders rolling out of Lake Park at 1:30 p.m. said Rick Folsom, one of the organizers of the ride.

“We’ve got all the permits, so it looks like it’s a ‘go’ right now,” he said.

Traditionally, bikers who donate an unwrapped toy get to ride in a mass motorcade from Lake Park up U.S. 41 to the Five Points Shopping Center in Valdosta, where the toys are donated to the Salvation Army to be distributed to children in Lowndes and surrounding counties as part of the Empty Stocking Fund, sponsored by the Salvation Army, The Valdosta Daily Times and Guardian Bank.

The Outback Riders’ usual meeting point in Lake Park declined to take part this year due to pandemic concerns, so the ride will start instead from the smaller venue of Cowboy’s Fire Pit Grill and Bar, Folsom said in an earlier interview.

Folsom wasn’t sure how many people would take part this year. 

“In a normal year, we could expect more than 1,000, but with COVID-19 and the weather, it’s hard to tell,” he said.

Though there had been heavy rain earlier in the week, Saturday’s forecast for Valdosta from the National Weather Service calls for mostly sunny skies with a high around 61 degrees.

Registration will start 7-9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18, at Mikki’s Bar on Northside Drive, Folsom said.

Saturday, Dec. 19, registration will be set up at Cowboy’s in Lake Park at 9 a.m., Folsom said. He asked all riders, and those donating toys without riding, to hold on to the toys until the end of the motorcade at Five Points.

At the Five Points end, there will be door prizes and a “50-50” giveaway, with half of any cash raised going to a lucky winner and the other half being used to pay expenses for the ride next year, Folsom said.

In the event the ride had to be called off due to COVID-19, the Outback Riders had a “Plan B” in place: Keeping a truck at Five Points that people could simply toss donated toys into without making contact.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.