Our first community adventure occurred on Saturday. Bikes & October. What do they have in common? Not much! But when combined you have bikes and beer (and pizza, etc,) – hence Biketoberfest! New to the area, we did not know what to expect. It was very well advertised. Coming from a larger town, we expected a bunch of people. They did have a crowd, but it was a select crowd: Those interested in biking and the Sheridan Community Land Trust (SCLT) http://beta.active.com/sheridan-wy/cycling/mountain-biking-races/biketober-fest-2013. They had a number of walking, running and bike events, but what we were most interested in was the “Kids Bike Rodeo!”
Kids on Bikes
This was the scene as we walked toward a busy, noisy area! It was a hoot! The Bike Rodeo involved kids from 2 – 6 riding their bikes and trikes around and performing “feats” like following a pattern around barrels (only about 3 kids were able to follow directions!) It was fun to see how crazy and goofy it was because the kids were biking everywhere and also trying to follow directions! It sure seemed like everyone was having fun. The highlight (for me) was the box knock down! The only purpose was to run your bike into empty boxes. The grins both from the kids and the parents were magnificent!
Ramming Boxes
The kids’ bikes were anything from leg-pushing bikes (their feet pushed off from the ground while they sat on the bike), to tricycles (several were shaped like hot wheels bikes (remember them?) but had “silent” tires!!! (My Saturday mornings would have been a lot quieter!) There were also small chain bikes and bikes with training wheels. It sure seems like bikes for kids are smaller now than they were when my kids were little – but they were exactly the right size for these tykes!!
One of the neatest bikes was a push bike for a toddler too small & immature to “go it alone”. It looked like it might have been from the 1920-30’s! (The parent is holding the handle and is still inside the corncob tunnel. It was a really neat antique – and very practical!
We didn’t stay long, but we enjoyed the ambiance and it seems like the Foundation had some good ideas. Can’t wait to see more (smallish?) events in our new “birth town”.
As observed by a spoiled bigger city person! LOL! (Hint: check to see if my perspective about crowd size changes over time.)
birthofahouse 