BUFFALO TWP — Helen Comperatore is dedicated to making Corey’s Cruise 2026 — an event that honors her late husband while giving back to first responders — a smashing success.

The second annual rendition of the event will take over the Butler Fairgrounds on July 25 with a bigger and better experience compared to last year’s cruise, Comperatore said.

The event memorializes her husband, Corey Comperatore, who was killed at the July 13, 2024, rally for then-candidate President Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show grounds. Comperatore was killed while shielding Helen Comperatore and their two daughters, Allyson and Kaylee, from a bullet fired by Thomas Matthew Crooks during an assassination attempt on Trump.

After last year’s Corey’s Cruise, Helen Comperatore said the Corey Comperatore Foundation — a 501(c)3 that gives back to first responders and other causes — has been working tirelessly on this year’s event.

“We didn’t even take a break. We just took one week and we all sat down again,” she said.

This year’s event will include the return of the motorcycle ride with a new route and new artist headlining the evening concert. Comperatore said she wants to host a breakfast for the riders as well.

“I want them to be able to — when they come back, if they want to — leave and go home and just break for a little bit and then come back for the festivities later at night. They can come back for the concert if they feel they want to,” she said.

This year, Texas country singer Coffey Anderson — most well-known for his song “Mr. Red White and Blue“ — will be headlining the evening concert.

“When we were on the phone, he said, ‘I’d be honored to come sing for the hero.’ Just how he said it out of his mouth, it meant something. You could tell,” Comperatore said.

She said organizers plan to host more vendors than last year.

“Any vendor you want is going to be there. Food vendors, craft vendors, wood vendors, jewelry vendors and any kind of vendor you can think of,” she said.

There will also be more dedicated activities for children through Fresh Event Rentals.

“Justin Fresh is bringing in tons of things for the kids to play on. Plus, we have a fire prevention area down on the side, where they’ll come in and do a bunch of fire prevention activities with the kids,” Comperatore said.

The event will also feature a new addition: a car show.

“They’ll probably be rolling in for early registration and those guys will be around all day. Those guys never go home, they’re there from morning to night,” Comperatore said.

Last year’s cruise in Corey Comperatore’s honor was held July 12, when over 1,500 motorcycles hit the road. The event then transitioned to a concert in Russellton, headlined by Gary Burk III.

“What we’re doing is helping our first responders, our people that put their life on the line every single day. If you can’t give once a year to a cause that’s giving back to those people, there would be something wrong with that community,” Helen Comperatore said.

But that isn’t the case in Butler County, she said.

Comperatore said the first thing the foundation board did after last year’s cruise was reflect. Some things they loved, but there were letdowns as well.

“We were, I think, disappointed in a lot of things from (2025). It’s your first year, and you go in with all these expectations, and then things don’t happen the way they’re supposed to. Or, you just think of all of these things you want to change,” she said.

This year they will provide covered seating out of the sun since last year’s weather was “brutally hot.”

“There was no way you could stay there all day like that unless you were covered. As a human, you just couldn’t do it. It was brutal,” she said.

She said there were some changes in the board since last year, but she believes they only made it stronger. The foundation also purchased its own building last year, which made the board’s excitement skyrocket.

“I just have this board that is so eager this year. That’s a big reason why I got this building. I felt like I owed them their own place,” Helen Comperatore said.

As for Corey’s Cruise in the future, she said she hopes it continues to grow bigger and better each year.

Comperatore said she’s spoken at a lot of events outside of the cruise.

“I’ve been speaking like crazy. I get called all the time and they’ll ask ‘Helen, would you come and speak?’ So I do. It’s a very rewarding thing for me.”

“He was real big in the church, so they wanted to do a mission trip in honor of Corey. One of the guys he was very close with in church asked me if it would be OK if they did one and it was the same place Corey had gone before,” she said.

She said she and the church managed to garner enough attention for the trip that they need three buses to get everyone there. She’s joining her church in the June mission trip to South Carolina.

Allyson Comperatore, her eldest daughter, will not be able to join since she will be a new mother. She was expecting a baby boy on Mother’s Day, which Helen Comperatore is over the moon about.

“I just can’t wait to hold this little boy,” she said.

As for community support, she said it’s been nothing but amazing. Sponsorships are going strong, but they are still looking for more.

“What I’d like to do is just introduce myself to the people in this community,” Comperatore said. “I don’t think a lot of them realize that I’m here. I’m just going to go out on foot.”

She said ticket sales for raffles, a new addition to Corey’s Cruise this year, have been going well so far.

“We put a raffle up for a one-day fishing trip, and tickets are almost sold out. We put it up for one day and the tickets almost sold out. So, the raffles are going amazing,” she said.

Comperatore said the big ticket raffle is a customized Harley Davidson that will memorialize Corey Comperatore. Tickets are on sale, and the winner will be drawn at Corey’s Cruise.

Tickets for the event and raffles can be found at the event website, coreyscruise.com.

Otherwise, she said community members have been supporting the foundation by providing items to raffle off.

“People just started dropping stuff off like crazy, and we got a whole room of stuff in here. We must have 20 or 30 baskets in there,” she said.

She thanked the community for the continued support and kindness it provides to her and her family.

“Just continue to pray for us because we definitely need it,” she said.