Expect to bike, eat, dance, skate and have loads of fun at the Berea Walk & Roll Block Party this Saturday.
The free party which the Baldwin-Wallace College Bike Co-operative is helping to sponsor will be held from noon to 4pm on September 24 at E Fifth and Front streets. A 90-minute bike ride will flow along the streets through the city after the party.
The co-op that opened earlier this year was spearheaded by Ashton Cortright, a B-W business administration 3/2 accounting graduate student. She said the event aims to create “good ties” between the bike co-op and the community while offering a fun day for all.
She said, “It’s really a celebration of Berea itself. The block party is open to everyone, not just those who want to ride a bike or skateboard. Come out, enjoy the day with your family and learn about cycling if you like.”
The event will offer food, music, local craft and merchant exhibits, raffles, a skate and BMX session and various other activities. Safety checks, bicycle tune-ups and information about its services will also be offered by the bike co-op.
The bike co-op’s official “open hours” for the public are now 2-5pm Mondays and Tuesdays and 6-9pm on Thursday, though many volunteers work at the Front Street location throughout the day. The co-op does plan to expand their hours soon. Bikes are available to rent hourly, daily, semester and longer. The co-op also sells new and used bike parts and offers fund-raising events.
Cortright encourages bikers to wear helmets, saying, “I find that 20- and 30-year-olds who wear helmets are a good example to children and teens who think it’s uncool to wear them.”
Berea police officers will be on hand at the event during the bike ride, which according to Cortright will have a “leisurely pace.”
“After the block party we will begin the 90-minute ride through the campus, Coe Lake, across Route 237, into the western part of the city and return along Bagley Road,” she said. “We are hoping for between 50-100 bike riders.”
The event is also being sponsored by the organizers of Grindstone Park, a group that is trying to create a 40,000-square foot indoor BMX and skate facility in the city.
