Save the date!  WalkBike Frankfort will host a general membership meeting at 6:00 pm on Monday, December 8, in the community room at the Frankfort Public Safety Facility, 300 West Second St.  In addition to reviewing 2014 and previewing 2015, we'll be electing officers so please join us! 

 

Just because the temperature's dropping doesn't mean we're not busy with bicycle and pedestrian issues!  Here's a round-up of what's been going on, WalkBike-wise:

 

The first weekend of October saw many of us working on the 11th annual GABRAKY, an annual joint fundraiser for the Grand Theatre and WalkBike Frankfort.  Well, some of us were working it and some of us were riding it!  It was a great ride and Bill Cull of the Grand Theatre will present a check to WalkBike Frankfort at the December 8 meeting.

 

The KSU-downtown trail keeps inching closer and closer.  The Frankfort city commission voted unanimously to approve receipt of a $232,000 grant from the federal highway administration.  And city attorney Rob Moore has met with officials from CSX who are conducting a final review of the land surveys and property parameters.

 

If you missed our third annual Tweed Ride, renamed The Tweedpunk Ride this year, you missed an exciting event!  Where else could you see a flamethrower-equipped bicycle; more pairs of goggles than you can count; and other fripperies and gewgaws too numerous to tally?  Almost 40 riders, including several children, turned out last Sunday, November 9, to enjoy the fair skies and comradery that bicycles seem to inspire!  And afterward, many riders repaired to the Coffeetree Cafe to enjoy a free screening of A Nightmare Before Christmas.

 

The awards categories were expanded this year to include  Most Noxious Noisemaker, Most Colossal Failure to Meet Great Expectations and a Grand Prize for Industrial Convergence.  The Tweed Ride always takes place on the Sunday of the Downtown Candlelight Celebration; we hope you'll join us next year!

 

Two of Frankfort's finest from our police bicycle patrol unit recently received their cycling safety instructor certification from the American League of Bicyclists, courtesy of the Folkbike ReCyclery and a Paula Nye grant.  This doubles the number of local instructors available for youth and adult traffic cycling safety classes.

 

WalkBike Frankfort is currently participating in discussions aimed at developing a plan for a trail network linking the Central Kentucky counties of Franklin, Woodford, Scott, Fayette and Bourbon.  Trails would include facilities for hikers and walkers, bicycles (on and off-road), horseback riders and even water pathways for canoeists and kayakers.

 

And, this at this weekend, our own Don Stosberg attended the Kentucky Bicycle and Bikeways Conference to represent our organizations and the work we do!  Don will tell us all about it at the December membership meeting.

 

Finally, Stuart's too modest to ask for help but the Folkbike ReCyclery has received a request for 24 children's bikes for Christmas.  Although our mission is to refurbish old bikes for new users, we all know that kids' bikes take such a beating that they can rarely be recycled.  If you can help defray the cost of purchasing bikes for these Frankfort kids, please make a donation at our web site, www.walkbikefrankfort.org or contact Stuart or Donna or Treasurer Brent Sweger. 

 

Looking forward to seeing you all on December 8!  And remember, we're always in need of new ideas and volunteers; don't be shy!  Let us know how you'd like to be involved in our work to make Frankfort the best city in the Commonwealth for walkers and bicycle riders.

 

Happy Trails from your WalkBike Frankfort board-

 

Donna, John, Brent, Nathan, Sellus and Stuart