PRESCOTT, WI (WTAQ) - Thousands of motorcyclists roared along the Wisconsin-Minnesota border Sunday for the 47th annual Fall Flood Run.

Bikers on both sides of the border took advantage of a sunny and mild day to roar through places like Prescott Wisconsin and Red Wing Minnesota – and rural by-ways in both states.

The event raised money for the Gillette Children’s Hospital in St. Paul Minnesota.

It started in 1965, when bikers rode into Winona Minnesota to help place sandbags for heavy floods that year. Organizers call it one of the oldest and largest charity motorcycle runs in the nation.

They said it became so popular in recent years that Wisconsin Highway 35 got jammed as riders avoided traffic in Hastings and Red Wing Minnesota.

This year, organizers tried to spread out the traffic by restoring the original route – and offering business discounts at a host of stops on both sides of the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers.