18th Annual Cookson Hills Toy Run Heads From Tampa to Evans Park

Editor's Note: Stay tuned for event coverage!

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A 20-mile toy run takes to the streets of Tampa through Brandon today, Dec. 4, as hundreds of motorcyclists bearing gifts for kids brings a reason for the season of joy — and giving.

The event — also known as, “The Down Home Make You Feel Good All Over Cookson Hills Toy Run” — is organized each year by Sheri and Bill Brown, who at last year’s event marveled at the depth and scope of the effort that now is in its 18th year. (Related Coverage: .)

"We started with 45 friends at a children's home that had something like 17 kids," Bill Brown said at the time. "We were getting more gifts than we had kids so we had to invite more kids and that's how we grew over the years."

The children's home, Cookson Hills, today goes by another name and doesn't have an association with the annual event. The event retains the name, however, because it has come to signify an event that is easily recognizable.

"It's turned from a biker event to a community, family event," Sheri Brown said. "It's all about everybody coming together. If everybody didn't show up the toy run wouldn't happen."

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE COOKSON HILLS TOY RUN:

Benefits: Children in East Hillsborough County, newborn to age 18, and people with special needs at any age.

What: Twenty-mile “country” ride ending with a toy exchange and festivities at Evans Park in Seffner, behind Burnett Middle School.

Route: The run starts at the Veterans Memorial Museum and Park in Tampa, at 3602 North U.S. Highway 301, and ends at Evans Park in Seffner, at 1104 North Kingsway Road. 

Time: Kicks off 10 a.m. Auction, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.