Summer Bike League Community Event Toolkit

Thanks for your interest in Cascade Bicycle Club’s Summer Bike League. As part of Summer Bike League, we are encouraging bicyclists to become community cycling champions, encouraging your friends and neighbors to incorporate bicycling into their life.

One way to do this is to host a community bicycle celebration. This may be as simple as a free lemonade stand just to say “thanks”. Or you could pull out all the stops to organize a neighborhood bike expo. We know that bicyclists are creative and energetic people who have a deep knowledge of their neighborhoods so we trust you to put on just the right event in terms of size and scope for your neighborhood.

  • Make a Plan. Come up with some fun ideas on how to make your event engaging. First and foremost: Have fun with it! Some sample ideas are below:
    • Food: always a hit
      • Set up a lemonade stand along a popular bike route
      • Ask a local store to donate some tasty snacks.
      • Borrow the human-powered bike blender to mix up smoothies
    • Safety Station:
      • Ask a local bike shop to provide free onsite adjustments, and provide discount coupons for larger repairs.
      • Invite a trained helmet fitter to check and adjust helmets.
      • Organize a bicycle rodeo to introduce kids to safe bike skills
    • Games:
      • Ring toss (use old bike tires and/or inner tubes)
      • How slow can you go race
      • Bike safety trivia
      • Fix a flat race
    • Bicycle decorating station: provide colorful streamers to make kids’ bikes festive and visible.

    • Kids' bike parade: Tool around the neighborhood or the park.

    • Neighborhood bike tour: Lead a bike ride around your neighborhood. You could highlight quirky local history, conduct a bike-ability assessment, or scope out safe routes to school.
  • Gather the troops. Recruit friends, neighbors, and local businesses to help with the event. Make it a summer project for bored kids.

  • Choose a venue. Look for a venue appropriate to the size and scope of your event. Your front yard, a community center, your house of worship, or a local park.
    • Note: Some venues require reservations, permits, and/or payment for certain kinds of use. Please look into this so that your event is bonafide! (Unfortunately, Cascade cannot subsidize costs for DIY community events. Fortunately, there is a lot you can do for free, and local businesses may be willing to provide food, beverages, or services.)
  • Outreach. A good turnout is key to a fun event.
    • Tell us about your event so we can post it on our fun, online calendar.
    • Get your neighbors out. You can post flyers (library, community center, coffee shops), send it to your neighborhood blog, list it in your local newspaper.
    • Invite your elected officials to participate and discuss bicycle improvements in your area.
    • Let us know how it went. We want to know if you had a good time, if people came by, and what worked.