Bikes in Bloom at the Anacostia River Festival

April got off to a great start on April 9th with the 3rd Annual Anacostia River Festival. This year, bikes were the star of the show, and folks from all over the city turned out to celebrate. With Anacostia Drive and Good Hope Road SE both closed to vehicle traffic, the park was filled with people walking, riding,  kayaking and more. Kids raced each other around the car-free roadways, adults explored the city’s scenic riverbanks, and everybody enjoyed a stellar weather day. We handed out more than 250 DC bike maps, teamed up with Project Create DC to do helmet decorating, we talked about Vision Zero (Good Hope Rd SE and Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE saw 41 crashes and 5 serious injuries in 2015), saw approximately a million bikes sporting handmade fish-flags made by ArtReach DC, talked up the Anacostia River Trail to hundreds of people, spread the word on our confident city bikes classes to oodles of people, helped give away 300 (properly fitted) helmets with DDOT and had a fabulous (and thoroughly exhausting) day. It was inspiring to talk with so many folks who want to start biking, learn to ride with their kids, figure out how to commute, learn how to bike or check out a new trail! Huge thanks to all the folks that put on the festival – 11th St Bridge Park and National Park Service in partnership with the National Cherry Blossom Festival, the other fabulous organizations that joined us to make the festival a celebration of all things bike – Gearin’ Up Bicycles, Velocity Bike Co-op, The Bike House, MORE, Black Women Bike DC, Project Create DC, ArtReach DC, Capital Bikeshare, DC Circulator,  Bike and Roll, District Department of Transportation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Benning Park Bike Club, Two Wheel Valet, and the US Coast Guard, and the absolutely rockstar volunteers who helped us connect and promote the trails with hundreds of people. You all rock.