Bicycle Valet and Bikes for Tikes
Just as one can valet park a car at a restaurant or special function – cyclers biking to the Coho Festival September 11th will be able to valet park their bicycles.
Tom Boppart, Coho’s Co-Chair, said the Society is really pleased with this new initiative. “The Coho Society is all about the environment,” he says. “We’re happy to be doing more each year to “green” our festival – and this is an idea whose time has come.”
Obsession Bikes on Lonsdale is sponsoring the Bicycle Valet. Owner James Wilson leapt at the opportunity to do so. James is noted for his social consciousness and his desire to get more of the population on bikes.
For James, it isn’t all about selling bikes. He has a program called Bikes for Tikes that he amps up each October.
“When our warehouses are empty, we ask people to donate the bikes they no longer use and we tune them up and repair them and donate them to children of needy families at Christmas each year.”
James began Bikes for Tikes when a single mom stopped in to see him. She was in need of a bike for herself so she could get to and from her two jobs each day, and needed something for her child as well. Having a bike would mean that mother and child could see more of one another. James, a father himself, wells up when he tells the story. He donated bikes and that stirred in him the idea to create a program that would provide bikes to lots of children in need.
James hopes that by spreading the word about Bikes for Tikes, he can engage more bike shops to join him in this initiative. There’s a touching story to be told for each reconditioned bike that finds a new home – and gives others a hand up – or in this case – transportation – and that’s what makes his business worthwhile.
The festival opens at 1l a.m. and runs until 6 p.m. Admission is free.
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