What a great day! Yes, it started out drizzly – but that was expected. (It just wouldn’t be B2WD without some precipitation.) But it quickly dried out and turned glorious. Throughout the course of the day, hundreds of people came by. The award for the longest bike commute goes to the hero from Westerly whose name I don’t remember… for everyone else, If you were there, here’s what you saw:
In the morning, speeches from Mayor Cicilline, Councilman Lombardi, Chris Wilhite (Sierra Club), RI Housing Director Richard Godfrey, RIDOT Director Michael Lewis, and the PBC’s own Mark “P Diddy” Dieterich. Plentiful coffee and food courtesy of Whole Foods and Starbucks. Free bike safety checks courtesy of East Providence Cycle.
In the afternoon: vendors and exhibitors including Recycle-a-Bike, Legend Bicycle, Providence Bicycle, Dash Delivery, REI, Apeiron Institute for Sustainable Living, East Coast Greenway Alliance, RIPTA, Narragansett Bay Wheelmen, Groundwork Providence, and Keepspace. Killer music from DJs Nick de Paris and Tim O’Keefe featuring Cliff Wood on sax. Food provided by the amazing United BBQ.
The carpet rolled up at 6 pm.
Special thanks to
– Dick Durishin of U.S. Open Cycling Foundation for providing 4 pop-up tents and general organization
– Sally Turner, Rhode Island’s Queen of Public Relations, who must do it for love ’cause we sure didn’t pay her much
– Steve Church. Unsung hero. ‘Nuff said.
– Frank DiPrete, one of RI’s important yet underappreciated bicycle boosters, helped with setup and breakdown
– The Providence Foundation and RIDOT for providing funding.
See you next year – but remember, the PBC oh-so-humbly suggests that EVERY day can be Bike-to-Work Day! To make it easier to start, we will continue to have “Bike Trains” headed into the city every week! Find the pertinent info elsewhere on this website.
Happy riding!