The Richard Garner Memorial Ride has become a very special event for Madison-area firefighters and the greater Madison community. On Saturday, Sept. 14, hundreds of people will come out to participate in a 100-mile ride starting at Harley-Davidson of Madison and ending with an after-party at Wisconsin Brewing Co. to help Fire Fighters Local 311 Charities raise money for the Richard Garner Memorial Scholarship Fund.
Firefighter Richard Garner died tragically on Easter morning in 2018 – just four days before his 30th birthday – shortly after finishing a 48-hour shift on the job. The annual Richard Garner Memorial Ride fundraiser not only keeps Garner’s memory and legacy alive but also raises money for scholarships.
David Guthrie was Garner’s good friend and ambulance paramedic partner at City of Madison Fires Station 10. Guthrie has been organizing the annual Richard Garner Memorial Ride since Garner passed away in 2018 and is looking to keep Garner’s legacy alive for many years in the future.
“The Richard Garner Memorial Ride will be pretty similar to the years past, starting the ride off at Harley-Davidson. Registration starts at 10 o’clock. Bikes will start leaving about 11 o’clock,” Guthrie tells Madison365. “It’s still a poker run, so people will go off in their own little groups and kind of come and go as they please. So it’s pretty informal.”
Riders will make stops along the way in the small Wisconsin towns of Cambridge, Evansville, Monroe, and New Glarus, before ending up at Wisconsin Brewing Company in Verona. “There we will have food carts, an ice cream truck, balloon artists, face painting, a bouncy house … it’s a very family-friendly event,” Guthrie says. “And that’s our goal behind always doing this – Rick wouldn’t want to leave anybody not included in anything that we would have done. So that’s why we try to make this not only about, obviously, motorcycles, one of Rick’s loves, but also about including as many people as we can to kind of get together and celebrate and have a good time.”
September is a great time to be riding in the beautiful area west of Madison.
“We had some really good weather since we moved the event to September. The first two years we did the ride in June, and it always seemed like it was about 100 degrees and really humid. The switch to September has been great, knock on wood,” Guthrie says. “We’ve been in the 70s and sunny and have stayed relatively dry. So we’ve been very thankful for that. So we’re hoping for another year of good weather.”
Garner was the first of three children born to Richard Sr. and Lennell Garner in Woodland Hills, California. Garner’s family has traveled from California, including his mother two years ago, to attend the Richard Garner Jr. Memorial Ride, something that Guthrie says brings him a lot of joy. He adds that he was “very fortunate to know Rick.”
“Rick was a hard guy to miss, as large as he was, but his personality, his voice, and his enthusiasm were all something that I think most people really loved. And he loved his job,” Guthrie remembers. “It wasn’t just a job, it was a way of life, giving back to people, not only at work, but also when he was off duty, as well. He really brought the crew together and brought a lot of life to the crew, a lot of life to the station. He really elevated everybody’s performance at work because we all got to see the joy that he had and the job that he did and it made you want to be a better employee and be a better person.
“His energy just always affected us in such a positive way. It was hard not to want to be a better person, work harder, and give back more after seeing everything that Rick had done,” he adds.
(Photo by A. David Dahmer)
Money raised at the Richard Garner Memorial Ride will go toward scholarships to help those young people who are entering the fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) fields. Over the past six years, the Richard Garner Memorial Fund has been able to give out 15 scholarships, with 10 recipients already being hired full-time in the fire and EMS fields.
“Due to the success of the ride and the fundraising this past year, we were able to get three scholarships, which is great because we usually only have two. So we’re excited about that,” Guthrie says. “And then with additional money from this year’s ride, we’re gonna start something new …. allocating additional money that we use throughout the year to reach out to underserved communities whether it be through educational supports or different programs, just giving back.”
The Memorial Ride and Memorial Fund is something that Rick Garner would have organized himself, Guthrie says.
“If the roles were reversed and if this tragedy would have happened to any one of us, Rick would have been the first one to step up to try to do something to keep someone else’s memory alive. That’s just the type of person he was and that’s why we’re doing this,” Guthrie says. “That this isn’t about myself or the committee members or local 311, this is about Rick, and we’ve always kept that central in our messaging and our fundraising.”
Registration for the Richard Garner Memorial Ride is done on the day of the event only. Harley Davidson of Madison is located at 6200 Millpond Rd.
“You don’t have to have a bike to participate in this event. If you have a vehicle and want to drive the route, you’re more than welcome to at the event,” Guthrie says. “We’ve had a few people show up with classic cars and convertibles and stuff like that.
“We encourage people to come out and support a great cause while having fun. The reception at Wisconsin Brewing Company is free.”
