Final Fred Perry motorcycle run Sunday afternoon

AUSTINTOWN

The Perrys pulled into Green Haven Memorial Gardens today in proper family fashion, astride motorcycles.

The trip is a tradition that precedes a decades-spanning celebration of the life of father, grandfather and renowned motorcycle mechanic, Fred Perry.

Today, the family paid its respects and rode from Green Haven on a predetermined route that hundreds of others on motorcycles will do Sunday.

The 27th – and final – annual Fred Perry Motorcycle Benefit Run begins Sunday at 1 p.m. at Austintown Plaza, 6000 Mahoning Ave. Registration for the run is $15 per driver, $10 for a passenger, and begins at 10 a.m. and goes to noon. Preregistration is available at O’Donold’s Irish Pub, 6000 Mahoning Ave., today from 10 a.m. to noon.

The first year, the run was an appreciation day put on by friends for Fred, who was living with cancer at the time.

His friends worked to raise money for medical treatments, but Fred never accepted the money.

“He never had any medical insurance or anything,” said Dale Perry, Fred’s son. “He always insisted on giving the money to the kids instead.”

Fred made it to the first celebration, but by the next year he wasn’t able to. He died July 15, 1991, at 67.

The event turned into a motorcycle run that gained traction and became revered among regional, out-of-state and a few international motorcycle riders, honoring the late mechanic.

Read more about the event in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.