NEWBURGH – Let’s Bike Hudson Valley kicked off its three-day event geared towards promoting bicycling at the Newburgh Armory Unity Center.
Local organizations including Scenic Hudson and the Newburgh Transportation Advisory Committee have partnered up to encourage today’s youth to ride bikes as a way of getting exercise and protecting the environment.
A similar event was held later in the day at the Family Partnership Center in Poughkeepsie, and the festivities culminated in the annual Kingston Women’s Bike Festival.
The first event was timed with the armory’s regular Saturday Morning Enrichment Program, and local schoolchildren came in full force for a raffle of used bikes that were fixed by Anthony Coneski, event and community project manager at Scenic Hudson.
Newburgh Transportation Advisory Committee member Naomi Hersson-Ringskog described the event as “a way of educating ourselves and our family and our neighbors about how to bicycle responsibly. The underlying thing is us coming together, advocating for better bicycle infrastructure in the city of Newburgh.”
Children who attended were passionate about bicycling, and eager to share their passion.
“It’s just a really convenient way to travel,” said Cheista Amaraweera, a student at Marlboro High School, “and it gives you exercise too and isn’t that costly. It’s also a good alternative to using gasoline and stuff.”
Yazan Goel, a student at South Middle School in Newburgh, remarked that biking helps him get “a six-pack.”
Gardnertown Elementary School student Eliana was looking to win a pink and white bike, and said that the best things about biking are “the exercise and getting to have fun.”
Presentations were given earlier in the day by Councilman Anthony Grice—who is credited with resurrecting the advisory transportation committee after nearly a decade of inactivity, Orange County Legislator Kevindaryan Lujan and biking activist Courtney Williams — known as the Brown Bike Girl.
