BALDWIN, Mich. — The Blessing of the Bikes is happening this weekend in Baldwin, and thousands are expected to get their motorcycles blessed for this riding season.
In 2021, there were more than 3,000 crashes involving motorcycles in Michigan.
This year marks the 51st Blessing of the Bikes in Baldwin.
"Every year, it just seems to get bigger and bigger," Marlene Gaitan, commander of the Dewey E. Duane AMVETS Post 1988, says.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to cruise through Baldwin this weekend
"It started 51 years ago with four motorcyclists that came up to Baldwin to ask the local priest for blessing of their bikes for a safe riding season," Gaitan says.
Now, it's turned into a multi-day event with food and merch vendors popping up along M-37 before the blessing at the airport on Sunday, May 21.
"We also have other non-profit organizations," Gaitan says.
"We love the environment here as well," Saywer Hendrickson of Miss Sawyer's Kids with a Cause says. "We love the people, we love seeing everyone."
The local leader says it's a great place to get support for their mission and connect with the community.
"We send about 25,000 care packages a year to different military bases around the world. We've been doing that for about seven years," Hendrickson says.
Gaitin says this is the first year that the event is being put on by the AMVETS Post 1988.
"I started late in life. I started (riding) when I was 50 years old," she says.
Gaitin says she loves this community.
"(I like) the freedom and the ease and just the togetherness of everybody," she says. "It's a group of people. We're like brothers and sisters. It's a bond."
The gates open at the airport at 9 a.m. Sunday, and the blessing starts at 1 p.m. It costs $5 to enter.