2011 Arts & Green Festival Recap Hi fellow AS&R members - It's the eve of Bike to Work Day so I'm finally sending out a wrap-up of our fantastic Arts & Green Festival from last Sunday, May 1. I want to publicly and properly thank everyone who helped make the event another great success! It was a gorgeous day out so, as expected, the crowds were great. Albany Strollers & Rollers and Street Level Cycles were again located in the southeast corner of the park, close to the Arts tables. Thanks to our generous sponsor, Bua Luang Thai Cuisine, we were able to provide free Bicycle Valet Parking for all the cyclists who rolled to the Festival. Ken McCroskey, Brian Miller, Camden McCroskey and four students from Albany High School's Connect Academy set up Ken's hand-built racks. Francesco Papalia and Cassandra (don't know her last name - I guess she's like Cher) set up our tables and banners so our signage could be seen from both the south and the west and everything looked neat and attractive. Along with Ken's large banner, our area looked classier than it ever has. Preston Jordan helped organize the contents of the tables coherently so we had manned stations for people to visit and talk with our members. Sylvia Paull, Kate Rowland (who helped prep lights in the morning,) Anne Malamud, Brian, Cassandra, Eddie Chau and Anne Shortall kept cranking all day with the Bicycle Valet Parking service. They parked 106 bikes, scooters and strollers throughout the day. A crucial component of our presence, as always, was Street Level Cycles bringing work stands and mechanics, and offering free tuneups to everyone who turned up! Chris Thompson coordinated the SLC effort. He and the other mechanics Bill Hogan, Eric Delesbore and Randy Zurkis tuned up more than 30 bikes in the four hours of the Festival. AHS student & AS&R intern Anna Urias helped them with tuneups and logistics throughout the morning, learned a lot and had a great time doing so. Thanks to our supporter, Safeway, we had free front lights to distribute, as for the second straight year they have donated money for 500 front bike lights. AS&R member Tony Caine was the impetus behind this great idea and made the connection with Safeway. He also personally distributed many front bike lights to people who couldn't believe that there was no catch... nope, just a free light to keep you safe on the road! Both adults and kids took advantage of this great opportunity. And remember, this fall Albany school kids will get 250 of those lights, also supported by Safeway. If you missed this opportunity, we will be distributing more free Safeway lights tomorrow at our Energizer Station on the Ohlone Greenway and Marin Avenue. Of course, we still have the rear blinking lights for sale, benefiting Albany school kids as well. Tony, Angela Armendariz, Sherie Reineman (who was pulling double duty, having captained a rest station earlier in the day at the Grizzly Peak Century,) I and others sold 27 of them. Angela helped a few kids and parents install the lights, too. We have now sold over 450 during the two years - these old standbys are clearly a big hit. I'd like to thank Laurie, Jamie and Bruce at FunSource, who worked long and hard to make sure that the graphics on both type of lights looked perfect, and that they made it to us in time for the festival! Preston, Nick Pilch, Ken, Angela, Tony, I and others spoke to many people who stopped by to ask questions about routes to ride, local cycling and pedestrian issues, etc. We signed up 29 new AS&R members, almost a 10% increase in membership. Clearly we are in the right place at the right time. Gerhard rode his folding bike with a trailer for display and Dan Lieberman's XtraCycle was a big attraction. Svante Rodegard rolled up with his rare, Danish-made Pedersen Bicycle. Have you seen a bike crossed with a hammock? That would be a Pedersen Bicycle! Sylvia invited Raines Cohen, who had a very unusual side-by-side tandem recumbent. These bikes and others gave the visitors to our booth an idea of just what human-powered possibilities are out there to ride. Many people asked questions about bikes, panniers, and other practical facets of riding. Bua Luang's owner, Pat, also provided us with discount coupons for the restaurant to distribute, so no one will be without a delicious Thai dinner for long. If you missed the opportunity, perhaps you can pick some up at Bike to Work Day. Otherwise, I'm sure they'll partner with us on another event in the future. Pat and her family also rode over to the festival and brought us a big container of Thai Iced Tea and some sandwiches for our volunteer crew. Those really hit the spot, especially for those of us who were up early in the morning. Laura Emery again had the envious job of picking up the Chipotle burritos, which Ashley supplied for all the volunteers. With such a busy day, everyone was really hungry and thrilled to see her ride in with her panniers filled with burritos! In additional to the businesses we usually partner with, we welcomed All In One Fitness to AS&R. Owned by two woman cyclists, Jasmine of AIOF donated a Free Month Membership and an Individual Fitness Consultation for us to raffle off. The lucky winners were Victoria Lee Moy of El Cerrito and Albany's Pam D'Andrea. We were also happy to have the EBBC's new Executive Director, Renee Rivera, spend time at our table while doing outreach for her organization. We appreciate all that the EBBC does to advance cycling in the East Bay! If you didn't make it down to the Festival yourself, Francesco took a bunch of photographs of our areas and those pix are posted in Albany Patch's photo montage of the event: http://albany.patch.com/articles/photo-gallery-arts-green-feels-just-like-summer#photo-5888799 Kudos and thank you to everyone who manned the AS&R table, the BVP signup and the SLC tuneups. Thanks to Heather Cunningham, who as usual, helped wrangle and organize the volunteers necessary to take on such a big undertaking. A big thank you goes out to Peggy McQuaid, Peter Goodman, Miya Kitahara, Tom Cooper, Amy St. George, Anne Goess, Erica Petrofsky and Claire Griffing. They along with our own Ken McCroskey, organized the entire festival and kept Albany Strollers & Rollers in the loop regarding all Festival decisions. Thanks again to all of you who helped out, and I look forward to seeing you again soon! ciao - Amy Smolens ****************************** 2010 Arts & Green Festival Recap 2010 was the first year that the city decided to merge its two major spring Festivals, so we knew that if the weather were good, the turnout would be fantastic and we would have our work cut out for us. The day was sunny and therefore busy, as expected. For the first time, Albany Strollers & Rollers and Street Level Cycles were given a location in the prime real estate of the southeast corner of Memorial Park. That perfect location made us an integral part of the festival, and certainly helped contribute to our success. Thanks to our generous sponsor, Bua Luang Thai Cuisine, we were able to provide free Bicycle Valet Parking services for the 135 cyclists (and additional people with scooters and strollers) who rolled to the Festival. Ken McCroskey, Preston Jordan and Steve Zavestoski set up Ken's hand-built racks. With such a large turnout, we barely had enough space for the cyclists who showed up! Ken, time to build another one? Sylvia Paull and Anne Malamud headed up the BVP, ably assisted by Diego & Nico Chavez, Buddy Williams, Mattison Ly & baby, Kumari Chadha and Neta Johnson. The last two mentioned are students at Albany High School's Connect Academy, and were connected to us by Paul Rooney. Sylvia specifically mentioned their excellent work ethic - I hope they'll come back! Bua Luang's owner, Pat, also provided us with discount coupons for the restaurant to distribute, so no one will be without a delicious Thai dinner for long. If you missed the opportunity, perhaps you picked some up at Bike to Work Day. Otherwise, I'm sure they'll partner with us on another event in the future. A new and important aspect was the free lights we were able to distribute, thanks to our new partner, Safeway. AS&R member Tony Caine was the impetus behind this great idea, and made the connection with Safeway. He also personally distributed most of the 125 front bike lights to people who couldn't believe that there was no catch... nope, just a free light to keep you safe on the road. Tony would later tell me that he felt like Santa Claus! And to make matters even better, this fall Albany school kids will get a matching number of front lights, also supported by Safeway. If you missed this opportunity, we will be distributing 125 more free Safeway lights at September 13th's Solano Stroll. If you want to make sure you get one, sign up to volunteer with us and you'll be first in line :-) ! Of course, we still have the rear blinking lights for sale, benefiting Albany school kids as well. Tony, Sherie Reineman (who was pulling double duty, having captained a rest station earlier in the day at the Grizzly Peak Century) and I sold a good number of them. We have now sold well over 200 during the past year or so - these old standbys are clearly a big hit. I'd like to thank Laurie, Jamie and Bruce at FunSource, who worked long and hard to make sure that the graphics on both type of lights looked perfect, and that they made it to us in time for the festival! A crucial component of our presence, as always, was Street Level Cycles bringing work stands and mechanics, and offering free tuneups to everyone who turned up! I know for a fact that this perk gets people to drag their bikes out of their garages, get them in working order and get back on those bikes for Bike to Work Day and beyond! Preston offered this anecdote: "A woman mentioned that her bike had a flat rear tire she had been meaning to get around to for a while. I told her Street Level Cycles might be able to repair it. I asked if she lived nearby and would get her bike if Street Level could make this repair. She said yes. We went over to Julian and asked him. He said they could make the repair. She left to get her bike and I saw Street Level working with her to repair the flat later." If it weren't for SLC, that woman's bike would no doubt still be sitting unused and dusty in her garage! As usual, coordinator Julian Marszalek and Chris Thompson led the SLC charge, with volunteers & interns Matt, Noah, Justin, Dori, Ken, Chris and Alvin tuning to their hearts' content. On a personal note, I was happy to see a female mechanic, Dori, who's setting a great example for young girls who see her at work. The group tuned up 40+ bikes in the four hours of the Festival. Festival goers, especially kids, snapped up the Jelly Belly Sport Beans that the company had given us. Preston and his kids had been lucky enough to draw pickup duty for the beans, which included a tour of their Fairfield factory. Matt McHugh, having worked the GPC early that morning, still had the energy to take photos, which will be posted on the website soon. Steve (another who'd worked GPC earlier) rode his Dahon folding bike for display, Miya Kitahara rode her adult tricycle with the cargo basket, David Arkin showed off his XtraCycle, Svante Rodegard, whom I'd fortuitously met at a rowing regatta the previous week, rolled up with his Danish-made Pedersen Bicycle, which I feel safe to say, no one had seen before. Have you seen a bike crossed with a hammock? That would be a Pedersen Bicycle! These bikes and others gave the visitors to our booth an idea of just what human-powered possibilities are out there to ride. Laura Nikravesh had the envious job of picking up the Chipotle burritos, which Ashley supplied for all the volunteers. With such a busy day, everyone was really hungry and thrilled to see her ride in with her panniers filled with burritos! Kudos to everyone who manned the AS&R table, the BVP signup and the SLC tuneups. As the first year of a merged event, we knew it would be hectic and it lived up to our expectation. Thanks to everyone, veterans and rookies alike, for pulling together to make it a great success. Thanks to Nick Pilch, Ken and Sherie, who stayed past the bitter end to break down and clean up, a role that I will never underestimate. Thanks to Heather Cunningham, who helped wrangle and organize the volunteers necessary to take on such a big undertaking, as well as finding the demo bikes. A big thank you goes out to Isabelle Leduc of the City of Albany, who along with Peggy McQuaid, Miya Kitahara, Tom Cooper, Amy St. George, Allan Maris, Anne Goess, Paul Rooney and Susan Adame, kept Albany Strollers & Rollers in the loop regarding all Festival decisions and truly made us part of the process. Thanks again to all of you who helped out, and I look forward to seeing you again soon! ciao - Amy Smolens ****************************** 2009 Arts & Music Festival Recap It was a clear and sunny day on Sunday, April 26 for the Second Annual Albany Strollers & Rollers/Street Level Cycles Bike Tune-up at the Spring Art and Music Festival. A major addition to our presence was the free Bicycle Valet Parking
service we offered, sponsored by Jelly Belly. 83 people rode to the
event and our efficient crew signed their bikes (scooters or
skateboards, too) in and kept them as long as they wanted to enjoy the
Festival.
Amazingly, Ken McCroskey Wait had towed all eight of the bike racks
behind his bicycle on a trailer - pretty impressive and tough to steer!!
Sorry, I didn't take a photo...
New AS&R member Anne Malamud headed up the Bicycle Valet Parking effort and was very well-organized. Everyone who brought his or her bike in got a Jelly Belly team water bottle. And everyone who visited our table for any reason (including all the volunteers, of course) during the course of the day ate bags of Jelly Bellys and Sport Beans, courtesy of our sponsor! Julian Marszalek came with a band of 7 other mechanics from Street Level Cycles, a few work stands, a huge set of tools, grease, oil, tubes, tires, cables, brake pads and anything else they imagined they might need for whatever jobs lay ahead. Instead of having the people wait on a long queue like last year, the BVP crew took phone numbers of those needing repairs and called them when their tuneup time had come - an efficient, 21st century system. The SLC mechanics tuned 33 bikes up - fewer than last year, but that means that all the really out-of-order bikes in Albany had been fixed last year! Some of the repairs made included brake adjustments, cranks tightened, derailleur adustments and chains lubed. In all cases, the mechanics explained the different problems people were experiencing on their bikes, and sometimes they were referred to their shop for more in-depth fixing... Way to go, guys! Many customers tipped the mechanics, grateful for the time and effort put in. For the second straight year we fulfilled our goal - getting people's bikes in working order in time for Bike to Work Day and beyond. Last year we saw many of these 'repairees' at our Bike to Work Day booth and I know we've seen them on the road since then. While the folks were signing in for BVP and repairs, we talked to them about Albany Strollers & Rollers - what we are all about, what we have already accomplished and what we hope to accomplish in the future. We stressed the need for community involvement and hoped they would join our group and help out. We signed up 19 new Albany Strollers & Rollers! Welcome, and we look forward to your involvement! We sold 17 of our great new blinking Safety Lights. In addition to getting a useful accessory, people loved the idea that for every light that we sold, an Albany student will get one free. If you aren't familiar with this program, please visit our Home Page to find out more. Another wonderful addition was lunch provided by our good friends at Chipotle. They provided each of the AS&R and SLC volunteers with a huge and delicious burrito - thanks! And we all had Jelly Bellys and Sport Beans for dessert! Thanks to all the volunteers - Ken & Camden McCroskey Wait, Sherie Reineman, Heather Cunningham, David & Austin Arkin, Preston Jordan, Nick Pilch, Anne Malamud, Estella Garcia, Sylvia Paull (who coordinated our BVP efforts and found Anne and Estella) and Ed Fields. Thanks also to Isabelle Leduc of the City of Albany for welcoming us to her festival and to Peggy McQuaid for posting some promotions on-line. The prominence of the "Free Bicycle Tune-up" information on the poster, in print ads and in on-line promotions everywhere REALLY helped promote awareness of our booth. I hope Isabelle and the rest of the City of Albany staff will look at us as benefiting Albany as a whole and welcome us to other events. Thanks especially to the mechanics from Street Level Cycles: Julian Marszalek, Chris Thompson, Tim Bodine, Ken Shin, Tom Martin, Joe Sung, Noah Brozosky, Aaron Norton Buford, without whom this event obviously would have not been possible! ciao - Amy Smolens Photos:    A friendly Grizzly Peak Cyclist, Melarie Johnson, visiting fellow GPC members & AS&R volunteers David Arkin, Sherie Reineman and Amy Smolens (foreground), Preston Jordan and Ken McCroskey (background) at the AS&R booth; XtraCycle on display courtesy of David Arkin (Photo credit: Peggy McQuaid)*** 2009 Green Albany Day Recap The weather was unseasonably hot for Green Albany Day. A sunny, Sunday, Green Albany Day (GAD) filled Memorial Park from 11am-3pm on May, 17, 2009 - a great end to a memorable and busy week in which 415 people stopped by our Bike To Work Day Energizer Station on Bike to Work Day! Promoted as an educational event hosted by the city of Albany, GAD participants enjoyed booths and workshops, met green representatives, learned about green businesses and environmental organizations, and socialized with other community members. Special planning workshops were also held throughout the day to gain public input on the City's Climate Action Plan (CAP). Participants learned more about the Climate Action Plan, which contains many aspects, including how to increase the use of transportation alternatives in order to minimize Greenhouse Gases. A few Albany Strollers & Rollers spoke with representatives of the CAP to make our views known and understood. Albany Strollers & Rollers (AS&R) and Jelly Belly teamed up to provide free bike valet parking for the event. Many thanks to Sylvia Paull and Ken McCroskey for coordinating the details of the valet parking. Thanks to their efforts recruiting volunteers and managing all aspects of the bike racks and parking, the free valet was a notable event service. Despite the heat, valet volunteers Anne Malamud, Kate Rowland, Ann Shortall, and Margie Kirk parked bikes for GAD riders with smiles and good spirits. Once again, everyone who brought his or her bike in got a Jelly Belly team water bottle. And everyone who visited the AS&R table for any reason during the course of the day ate bags of Jelly Bellys and Sport Beans, courtesy of our sponsor! With a prime location outside the entrance to the GAD, Amy Smolens and I, Heather Cunningham, represented AS&R to passers-by. We provided GAD participants with information about what we do, what we have accomplished, what we hope to accomplish, and how new members can become involved. With help from Ken, Nick Pilch, and a generous Trek bike donation from Sylvia, AS&R has increased our membership by over 10% since the Art & Music Festival. Welcome to our new members! Also notable was the success of our bike light program. We sold 16 more of our great new blinking Safety Lights (partnering with the City of Albany, Fun Source LLC / DuraVisionPro and the Transform / Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools campaign). In addition to getting a useful accessory, people loved the idea that for every light that we sold, an Albany student will get one free. If you aren't familiar with this program, please visit our Home Page at http://www.albanystrollroll.org to learn more. When not chatting with GAD visitors or parking bikes, all of our booth and valet volunteers enjoyed a burrito lunch courtesy of Chipotle Mexican Grill. Solano Avenue Cyclery provided shade by loaning us a large canopy. We originally asked to borrow a couple of Dahon folding bikes, but appreciated the tent and bike stand, too. They rounded out our large display of transportation alternatives. David Arkin's Xtraycle, Ken's Trail-Gator and bike trailer train, and Amy's pannier outfitted commuter bike showed the various ways people can ride bikes and still transport lots and lots of stuff (kids included). Many, many thanks to all the volunteers, the City of Albany, Albany's Sustainability Committee, who organized GAD, our sponsor, Jelly Belly, and supporters, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Charlie Tondu of Solano Avenue Cyclery. Best, Heather Cunningham   AS&R's Green Albany Day participation history: In 2007, for the inaugural event, Councilwoman Joanne Wile approached Preston and asked if we would participate and have a booth at the upcoming Greening Albany event, saying that they were hoping for a "large bicycle presence". The event was organized by the Albany Green Chamber of Commerce; it is an "Annual festival – learn greening techniques, and ways to reduce your impact on the environment. Local green businesses will be on hand to discuss their products and showcase environmentally friendly products." Amy Smolens organized this effort for AS&R, assisted by Sherie Reineman, Matt McHugh and Preston Jordan taking turns at the booth. We brought bicycles, bicycle attire and accessories. In addition to the water bottles and T-shirts donated by sponsors Missing Link, Solano Avenue Cyclery, and EBBC, we gave away bicycle maps to people who signed up membership in AS&R and EBBC. The event was held in the auditorium of Albany Middle School. In 2008, anticipating being out of town on work during the event, Amy passed the torch to Sherie Reineman for organizing the event. This year, the event was held in the Veterans Memorial Building. We were given the outdoor patio space at the entry to the building, which afforded fresh air, less noise competition with other organizations, and lots of room to display different types of bicycles, bike trailers, David Arkin's XtraCycle, a Dahon folding bike (on loan from Solano Avenue Cyclery) and even a Segway, courtesy of Preston and Michelle Jordan. Sherie, Ken, Matt and David staffed the table. We had fewer signups in 2008, but one has proven her weight tenfold (Sylvia Paull) in terms of immediate and proactive involvement in AS&R. Aleida Andrino-Chavez kindly donated 50 maps out of her personal money (we still have many of them, which we will use for future events.) For 2009, we are thankful and fortunate for the outstanding volunteer energy and organizational skills of new member Heather Cunningham as coordinator of AS&R's efforts, also with Ken McCroskey and Sylvia Paull heading up our Bike Valet services for the event, with the assistance and guidance of Robert Raburn, Executive Director of EBBC.
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Albany Arts & Green Festival |
