Faces of Bike Month: The Hub for Fun

Last year we took a look at the many faces of Bike Month — from advocacy groups to bike shops, May is an opportunity for bikes to unite.  Over the next several days, we’ll be highlighting some of the stories — and faces — we featured in our American Bicyclist magazine for Bike Month 2013.

Today, we’re taking a look at a story by Jason Van Driesche, director of advocacy and education at Local Motion, about the long list of event’s the Vermont-based organization puts on during the month of May.

With support from the City of Burlington and the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission, Local Motion organizes a series of events for Bike-Walk Month.

Our headliner event for this year is an advocacy party, with food carts, a beer truck, national speakers, and all kinds of fun stuff. We’ll also be organizing laid- back rides and commuter bike upfits, blanketing the sidewalks with stenciled walk-bike safety messages, getting kids and parents out on the street with signs asking cars to slow down, handing out chocolates to bike riders on National Bike to Work Day, and a whole lot more.

We also serve as a clearinghouse for bike-related events put on by other organizations. We created a simple Google form to gather events from all kinds of partner organizations, from the YMCA to AARP Vermont to the Humane Society. Because we reach out to other organizations and publicize their events, we put Local Motion at the hub of a whole lot of fun and excitement — much more than we could possibly organize on our own!

Local Motion is a non-profit organization that promotes active transportation and recreation for healthy, sustainable Vermont communities. For information, visit www.localmotion.org.