News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Tennessee Fireman’s Association has taken over the Shady Brady Tennessee Fallen Firefighter Memorial Ride.
The late Sparta Firefighter Barry Brady started the motorcycle ride in 2015. His wife Dawn Brady said a larger organization taking over will allow the event to grow and carry on Barry’s legacy.
“I think Barry would have been so happy about this,” Brady said. “He never really thought of it, because he never expected it to keep growing every year. I think it is just a nice fit and a good move to make.”
Brady said the memorial ride will still take place in Sparta and has a tentative date of September 17th. Brady said she will be serving on a committee to come up with ideas for future rides. One possibility is a friendly competition with riders across the state.
“One of the things we have talked about is having a West Tennessee versus middle/east Tennessee competition to maybe grow the riders,” Brady said. “We don’t have a lot of west Tennessee people involved and that would be a way to get it out. It is not set in stone, but one of the ideas was maybe west Tennessee would meet at a particular fire station and east and middle Tennessee would continue to meet in Sparta and then, meet somewhere in the middle and finish the ride.”
Brady said even though the association has taken over, the mission will remain the same. Raising funds for the Fallen Firefighter Memorial at Bell Buckle.
“100 percent of all the funds raised will still go to the Tennessee Fallen Firefighter Memorial Board,” Brady said. “That’s what this ride was created for. That is never going to change. As his wife, I will make sure.”
