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Vanier Cycles, a sub-committee of the Vanier Community Association, will host a cycling
festival on June 2. The festival will have activities for families, children and adults alike and
will take place at the Vanier Community Service Centre and the Centre Francophone.
Vanier celebrating safe cycling
Festival brings together loads of activities, barbecue
Michelle Nash
michelle.nash@metroland.com
EMC news - Two-wheelers
are set to have some fun as
Vanier organizes its first safe
cycling festival this weekend.
The Vanier Community Association
has organized Vélo
Fest in collaboration with
Capital Vélo Fest on June 2.
The festival will host a number
of activities that include
bicycle safety sessions, skill
challenges and a bicycle tuneup
workshop.
Sarah Partridge, event
organizer and association
board member, said cycling is
becoming very popular in
Vanier and the association
wanted to find a way to celebrate
that.
“It is an easy way to get
around - to the different parks
and businesses in the area -
or to visit friends,” Partridge
said.
“We wanted to celebrate
cycling by coming together
for cycling activities and a
barbecue. We also want to
make sure everyone is safe, so
we will have games for kids
to teach them cycling skills,
skill challenges for adults and
kids as well as a bike tune-up
workshop, and free reflectors
for bikes to make sure cyclists
are seen on the road.”
The event is taking place at
two locations: Centre Francophone
de Vanier and the Vanier
Community Service Centre.
There will be a bike rodeo
for children, cycling tours of
Vanier, as well as information
booths from local and citywide
cycling groups.
There will be free helmets
and t-shirts to the first 100
children who attend, thanks
to the Club Optimiste. There
will also be a free barbecue at
noon.
For those new to cycling or
people just getting back on a
bike, Partridge said this will
be a great event to attend.
The event is the result of
work from the associationʼs
new committee, Vanier Cycles.
Over the past year the committee
has been collecting
feedback from residents about
the routes they take in Vanier
as well as on dangerous intersections
in order to provide
feedback to the city.
The group will also participate
in the cityʼs cycling consultation
as part of Building
a Liveable Ottawa, which is
open to all residents in the city
and can be found at ottawacycling.metroquest.com.
Partridge said the group
learned that Capital Vélo Fest
was taking place in June, so
they decided to join their
Community Spokes Program.
Partnering with are the
Vanier Community Service
Centre, which operates Vélo-
Vanier, a free neighbourhood
bike-share program, and the
Club Optimiste, which runs a
bike rodeo each year.
The cityʼs Safer Roads Ottawa
program also joined to
help organize the event.
“The enthusiasm for this
festival quickly grew and with
so many partners, we are able
to run a really great activity,”
Partridge said.
Volunteers are welcome to
help with the fix-your-bike
workshop, serve food at the
barbecue or take pictures.
Registration is available online
at capitalvelofest.ca or
email vanieravelo@gmail.
com.
A full list of activities and
times is available online at
vanier-association.com.
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Ottawa East News EMC - Thursday, May 30, 2013 11