Gear up for the second community Bike Parade

The bike rodeo is a fun activity for kids, and even adults, that don’t know how to ride a bike.”

Willy Zambrano Chair of economic development committee

The fun family-friendly Bike Parade returns this upcoming Saturday.

Nassau County Legislator Debra Mulé and the Baldwin Civic Association are joining forces to host a second Community Bike Parade at Baldwin Park on Saturday, Sept. 23 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event is designed to bring people together of all ages and abilities to celebrate the joy of cycling. The parade includes a group ride, a bike clinic for free safety checks, and more.

“The bike rodeo is a fun activity for kids, and even adults, that don’t know how to ride a bike,” Willy Zambrano, chair of economic development committee said. “They can learn how to ride a bike, as well as go through some obstacle courses that the Nassau County Police Department will be setting up at that time.”

After this bike clinic, the parade will commence and everyone who will participate will ride their bikes throughout the Baldwin Harbor area. This includes Baldwin Park through Atlantic Avenue and then coming back through a series of residential streets. The total path is about 3.1 miles.

“It’s a fun way of connecting with the neighborhood,” Zambrano said. “Because Atlantic Avenue is a commercial road, the bike parade will have intervention with the business in the area as well.”

This bike parade is happening just in time for Long Island Mobility Week. Mobility Week promotes modes of transportation that involves walking and/or riding your bike. The Baldwin Civic Association is partnering with the U.S. Green Building Council Long Island Chapter for this parade to promote physical activity.

“The bike parade was fun for me because we were able to actually engage people as we rode the bikes,” Zambrano said about the last bike parade that happened in May. “We ran into this one individual who was riding a car and he stopped all of a sudden and when he saw everybody riding bikes, he went back home and came back with his kid on a bike.”

This sort of interaction with the community is why Zambrano is excited for this bike parade to come back. He explained that the whole premise of this event is to create a future where biking is more common. He would like to see bike routes connect all of the neighborhoods in the Baldwin community.

“What Willy was referring to relates to just an overall goal that we have for the Baldwin Civic Association going forward,” Kimberly Malone, president of the Baldwin Civic Association. “Which is to create a sense of community overall.”