Princeton to be a stop for Gold Star 500 in September

The Gold Star 500 might start in Superman’s hometown of Metropolis, but Gold Star Mission’s more than 512-mile Gold Star 500 endurance bicycle ride is honoring real heroes from Sept. 24-28.

The ride will include an overnight stay Sept. 27 in Princeton before bicyclists head to their final destination of Rockford. There will be stops planned Sept. 27 at the Wyanet VFW and on Sept. 28 at the Ladd Veterans Park and the ADM facility in Mendota.

The Gold Star 500 helps ensure residents remember and never forget the sacrifices of fallen Illinois service members and their families, event organizers said in a news release. This year the ride will traverse nearly the entire state running from Metropolis in Southern Illinois up to Rockford in the north.

The funds raised from the Gold Star 500 go to awarding scholarships in the names of Illinois’ fallen service members as well as toward videos memorializing the state’s fallen through interviews with their families, friends and those who served with them.

“Ensuring that the memory of our fallen service members stays alive is vitally important to the soul of our nation,” said Barry Tobias, president of Gold Star Mission in a news release. “These men and women were willing – and did – give everything for freedom and the United States of America.”

Gold Star Mission has awarded well more than $283,000 in scholarships, each in honor of Illinois’ more than 300 service members who have fallen since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The Fallen Heroes History Project has created nine videos, each about 30 minutes in length, with family, friends and fellow service members telling viewers about these soldiers.

“The Fallen Heroes History Project helps people connect with these heroes and their families and to better understand the sacrifice of the fallen service member and the sacrifice of the fathers, mothers, spouses and children,” Tobias said. “The goal is to have a video produced for each of Illinois’ fallen and to have those videos help keep their memories alive for perpetuity.”

This year the ride will start in Metropolis. On Sept. 24, the riders will travel 101 miles from Metropolis to Mount Vernon with brief stops in Vienna, Goreville and Sesser.

On Sept. 25 the Gold Star 500 riders will travel 104 miles from Mount Vernon to Mattoon with stops in Salem and Effingham.

On Sept. 26, the riders will travel 102 miles from Mattoon to Normal with a brief stop in Urbana.

On Sept. 27, the riders will travel 112 miles from Normal to Princeton with a brief stop in Peoria.

On the final day of the Gold Star 500, Sept. 28, the riders will travel 101 miles from Princeton to closing ceremonies in Rockford with brief stops in Mendota and Rochelle.

The ride is scheduled to end during Gold Star Family weekend just before Gold Star Mothers’ Day on Sunday, Sept. 29.

Many of those who volunteer with Gold Star Mission are active or retired members of the Armed Forces, or Gold Star Family members. A group of active and retired Illinois National Guard members started Gold Star Mission in 2017 with the goal of creating awareness of the more than 300 Illinois military members killed since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and awarding scholarships in their names through a rigorous 500-mile, 5-day bicycle ride – the Gold Star 500.

For the past couple years, the Gold Star 500 has had participants from Poland and Gold Star Mission riders have participated in a similar ride in Poland for fallen Polish service members.

Many of the Gold Star Mission volunteers were involved in the Illinois National Guard’s State Partnership Program with Poland or had co-deployed with the Polish to Iraq or Afghanistan. The Illinois National Guard co-deployed with the Polish on combat tours first to Iraq and then to Afghanistan for 17 consecutive years.

Each year the organization has grown. Organizers have added the annual Run for the Fallen, the General Logan 200 bicycle ride, a presence at the State Fair’s Veterans Day, in addition to its Scholarship Awards and Appreciation Dinner.

The organization participates in events honoring fallen Illinois service members and Gold Star families throughout the year. In 2022, the organization has also launched the Gold Star Mission Fallen Heroes History Project. The project completed two videos in 2022 and five more in 2023 and two more so far in 2024. More videos are being produced as funds become available. For more information about the Gold Star Mission or how to get involved visit https://goldstarmission.org/ or email goldStarMission@gmail.com .