Six years after he was killed in a traffic stop gone horribly wrong, the memory of fallen New Kensington police officer Brian Shaw is still alive.

That fact was driven home — loudly — by the rumble of more than 700 motorcycles passing through the Alle-Kiski Valley on Saturday in a growing annual tribute that is both a scholarship fundraiser and an affirmation of the ties between the area’s residents and their local law enforcement.

The sixth annual Officer Brian Shaw Memorial Scholarship Ride attracted, as it has each year, riders from varied backgrounds, some of whom did not know the 25-year-old personally but were moved to take part by what his service and his death represents.

Also there, as in previous years, were hundreds of spectators, from grade-schoolers to seniors, who lined local streets and looked from highway overpasses, exchanging waves with the riders as their bikes, some adorned with flags, traveled with a police escort.

Jennifer Fletcher, 41, a retired Navy rescue swimmer and her husband, Eronn Fletcher, 46, of Leechburg were among those queueing up as the riders prepared to depart the Shriner Center in Harmar at 10 a.m. for the 75-mile loop through the Valley.

If Shaw could see the assemblage, “He’d be amazed,” Jennifer Fletcher said.

“You always want to give back to guys who risk their lives for us. Our god-brother was actually in the academy with him,” said Eronn, a general sales manager with an auto dealership in the South Hills. “They came out together, so it’s a little extra special to us. It hits home a little harder.”

Some of the participants he never sees. Others he knows from ride nights.

Jeanna Aller-Janicky, 49, and James Janicky, 60, both of New Kensington have been to each ride. They didn’t know Shaw personally but knew he patrolled their neighborhood.

“It’s unbelievable to look around and see how much support there is from the community and the appreciation these people all have for our law enforcement,” Jennifer said, a home health care worker.

For many, the wait for this year’s ride to reach their vantage point was rewarded by the first glimpse of approaching of columns of motorcycle headlights and a police car, lights flashing, at the lead.

Standing with their family and others on the Tarentum-Culmerville Road overpass approaching Route 28’s Exit 14 in Tarentum, Kennedy Huet, 7, and her older brother Jaxon, 9, of Brackenridge marveled at the site of hundreds of motorcycles passing below them. Kennedy smiled and waved at times, but also covered her ears.

“Loud,” she said afterward.

Proceeds from the charity event go to the Brian Shaw Memorial Scholarship Fund. It provides $6,000 every year to two cadets attending the Allegheny County Police Academy. Officials said the fundraiser also helps provide protective vests and equipment for them as they embark on law enforcement careers.

Shaw’s 2017 death triggered an immediate outpouring of sorrow and gratitude. In the years since, the fundraiser it spawned continues to amaze organizers.

Some 640 riders participated in the first ride, departing from Valley High School and concluding at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Harrison, having roared through the Alle-Kiski Valley.

Participants in this year’s 75-mile ride traveled a modified route because of the New Kensington Bridge closure. It wound from Harmar to the Route 28 expressway, into Freeport, up to Ford City, back down through Vandergrift, to Lower Burrell and New Kensington and back to Harmar.

The Shrine Center was selected as the current start and end point in part because it can accommodate this year’s expanded turnout, Leslie Zellers, founding member of the scholarship fund, said to the Tribune-Review this week.

The location change was apparently a good call. Well before 8:30 a.m. Saturday, scores of riders were waiting outside the center as loudspeakers set up in the parking lot blared such tunes as Travelin Band, a 1970 song by Creedence Clearwater Revival. A surprisingly cool August morning warmed up quickly under bright sunshine.

It was clearly an early crowd, and one from various walks of life.

“We have law enforcement, we have teachers, we have lawyers, we have garbage truck drivers, we have sanitary authority workers, we have bankers — every profession you could imagine is in this ride today,” said Eric Felack, 68, from New Kensington, communications coordinator for the event.

Special guests included Jordan Schrecengost, the Tarentum police officer, wounded in the shooting that claimed the life of Brackenridge Police Chief Justin McIntire in January; and Chuck Thomas, a police officer from McKeesport, wounded in the shooting that took officer Sean Sluganski’s life in February.

Shaw’s father, Stephan and his mother Lisa, rode in the event as did his brother Steffan and a sister-in-law, Jackie Shaw.

Felack said this year’s ride was expected to raise $30,000 to $40,000.

“We want it to go to an annuity so if we’re all gone or the ride does not continue at some point, there will still be enough money in perpetuity to fund the scholarships.”

Cycle skids out on Rt. 28

During the ride’s first hour, there was an accident involving one of the motorcycles on the Route 28 expressway northbound between Exits 15 and 16 that sent the rider to a hospital. An unidentified motorcyclist went into a skid, jumped off his bike and suffered head lacerations that were not considered life-threatening, according to Felack.

When the riders pulled back into the Shrine Center by about 12:30 p.m., a celebration was held with food, basket raffles and live entertainment by Heidi and the Hellcats, organizers said.

Shaw did not stray far from where he grew up. He lived his entire life in Lower Burrell and was a Burrell High School graduate. He earned a degree in criminal justice from Slippery Rock University.

Shaw was 25 years old and with the department for less than six months when he was fatally shot during a foot pursuit stemming from a traffic stop.

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