After two years on hiatus, the Rogue Valley Bike Swap returns in individual April 30
Mail Tribune/File Photo
After two years of COVID closing the door on in-person occasions, the Rogue Valley Bike Swap shall be again — in individual, with no cost of admission.
The occasion is scheduled from midday to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, April 30, in the car parking zone of the Grove, 1195 E. Main St., Ashland.
Last yr, Ashland Parks and Recreation collaborated with Rogue Valley Transportation District and made do with a donation drive. Sulaiman Shelton, the volunteer and occasion coordinator for Ashland Parks and Recreation, stated that donated bikes had been distributed to Almeda hearth survivors, veterans and low-income residents all through the Rogue Valley.
This yr, Ashland Parks and Recreation and RVTD are coming collectively once more, with extra partnership from Ashland out of doors gear retailer Get ‘N Gear to deliver the bike swap again to life.
The swap permits individuals to purchase or promote bicycles — from those that love bikes to those that love bikes — and to boost cash for teenagers to like bikes.
Those who need to promote a bike at the occasion obtain 80% of the sale value, with the different 20% going to the Ashland Parks Foundation for youngsters’s bike training.
Shelton stated that in earlier bike swaps, the cash raised funded a devoted one that toured Ashland elementary colleges, spending every week at every location and educating college students tips on how to trip bikes, and the way do it safely. Now, the training programming is “fluid,” however any cash raised will “remain in an account with the Ashland Parks Foundation until the right person is found” to run it, Shelton stated.
During the swap, a portion of the Grove’s car parking zone shall be changed into a test-drive course for pedal-assist E-bikes, courtesy of Ashland Electric Bikes and Piccadilly Cycles. Mark Vergeer, bike applications supervisor for RVTD, stated the course shall be 80 toes lengthy, simply lengthy sufficient to soundly rise up to hurry and check out the E-bikes.
Some E-bikes shall be that can be purchased, Shelton stated. Siskiyou Velo, a Rogue Valley bicycle membership, can have a desk at the occasion, together with Streets for Everyone, a nonprofit targeted on stopping site visitors fatalities for pedestrians and cyclists. Vergeer stated RVTD can even have a desk at the occasion, with free security gear.
The swap can be a possibility to guard bikes towards theft. Attendees will be capable to register their bike’s serial quantity with Ashland police. If a bike is reported stolen, or a misplaced bike is discovered, the police use the numbers to reunite bikes with their homeowners. Ashland police Chief Tighe O’Meara stated, “this is an easy, in-house way for us to have one more tool to track a bike, be it stolen, abandoned, whatever, back to its owner.”
Those concerned with promoting bikes at the swap can drop them off at the Grove from 5-7 p.m. the day earlier than the swap, or from 8-10 a.m. the day of the occasion.
Bikes may also be dropped at the RVTD constructing in downtown Medford, 229 S. Front St., from 4-6 p.m. Friday, April 29.
Anyone trying to unencumber storage area from bicycles or bicycle gear can have a distributors desk of their very own for $30. The occasion can be on the lookout for volunteers.
For extra details about promoting or volunteering, name Sulaiman Shelton of Ashland Parks & Recreation at 541-552-2264, or e mail him at sulaiman.shelton@ashland.or.us.
Reach Mail Tribune reporter Morgan Rothborne at mrothborne@rosebudmedia.com or 541-776-4487. Follow her on Twitter @MRothborne.