If you live nearby and you’re not part of the Fridley Families Facebook group, you should be! Also, you should be on Nextdoor.com – Fridley police use it diligently. Plus, it’s a great way to get to know your actual neighbors besides on the once-a-year National Night Out.

Also we made promotional flyers and got them out to elementary schools, the library, and some local businesses to help spread the word. One of the key local businesses that we sought out this year was Grandpa’s Ice Cream. We invited them to bring their ice cream trailer down to the Fridley Farmers Market, our final bike ride destination from Riverfront Regional Park on the Mississippi River Trail. Who doesn’t like some ice cream after a bike ride? Personally, it’s the reason that I ride.

Activities!

Turnout at Riverfront Regional Park was better than it has been in the past. Props go out to our commission liaison Kay who invited a naturalist from the Wargo Nature Center. The naturalist brought a snake, which was a big hit with kids and non-ophidiophobic adults 🙂 Kay also gave out spruce saplings that were supposed to be delivered for Arbor Day, but strangely arrived a month late.

Also props to my fellow commissioner Mark and his wife for organizing two great kids activities – clay wildflower seed starters and pine cone bird feeders. The kids had a great time with these hands-on activities.

Bike Ride

Despite a little bit of rain, a hearty few of us were still determined to ride. We rode north on the Mississippi River Trail up to Stevenson Elementary. From there we crossed the train tracks by using the Northstar station tunnel. It takes a while for people and bikes to queue up and use the elevators (lighter bikes can just be carried down the stairs), but I like to show people that the tunnel is well-lit and safe for anyone and everyone to use.

From the station we continued on 61st Ave to the Farmers Market at the Fridley Community Center. We enjoyed ice cream for lunch and I purchased some baklava for dessert later on.

One of the vendors, Tübinger Bakery, actually lives in my neighborhood. The breads looked tasty and delicious and the samples I had were great. So great that I was sadly unable to buy any because they had sold everything they had by the time we arrived!

We learned a lot about what we can do ahead of time next year to better promote our event. Hope to see you out there next year!

Fridley was recently awarded the Blue Star Award. As part of the celebration, an event that coincides with National Trails Day will be held on June 6th. There will be kids events at Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts starting at 10 in the morning and then the celebration continues at Islands of Peace Park.

At 1PM, the Mayor will give a national trails proclamation. Then the community band will be playing an hour long concert. The bike tour is set to depart around 2:15PM, after the band concert.

This will be a family friendly, leisurely ride. I’ll probably have at least one kid in-tow, so feel free to bring your kids along!

We’ll head south on the Mississippi River Trail towards Reidel Farm. I’m hoping to brush up on my history before the ride in case anyone asks about the farm’s significance. Then we’ll cross over the Northtown Yard via the 44th Ave. bridge. We’ll cross into Columbia Heights briefly on the other side of the bridge before getting back into Fridley proper via Main St.

We’ll continue north on the Mississippi River Trail to Locke Lake. We’ll make a short stop at Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts. Then we’ll head back south to Islands of Peace.

Update

After shaking hands with the Mayor during the National Trails Day Proclamation, we listened to the Fridley City Band play some “water music.” One tune was an 80s medley which I believe contained the Police Academy march. I certainly had the tune my head the rest of the day, so I thought I’d share this earworm:

After the concert, it turned out that it would be just myself, a city employee and commissioner on the bike tour. I had contemplated choosing a more friendly and scenic route (having ridden my original route 2 days before). But now was my chance to show city staffers the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Mississippi River Trail (MRT) for the most part is good.

The bad 44th Ave. bridge was revisited. This time we crossed paths with a pedestrian going the other way on the bridge. He had to stand on top of the jersey barrier while I walked my bike (with trailer) past him because the space is so narrow.

Then we went back north on the ugly part of Main St. It is supposed to have a bike lane the whole length of it, but Anoka County wouldn’t have anything of it. So instead we’re left with the “World’s Shortest Bike Lane” – 4 blocks from 57th to 61st. The part of Main St. that is not a county road. 🙁

Hopefully we can get some of these things remedied by next year!