Greenway Glow ignites
Annual night bike ride raises funds alongside free arts festival
May 31, 2015
Stilt walkers, a giant catapult, live music and storytelling are some of the events featured to create a linear art gallery, according to Soren Jensen, executive director of the Midtown Greenway Coalition.
The Greenway Glow incorporates two events: an arts festival and a night bike ride. The arts festival is free, while the night ride is a fundraising event that raises money for the Midtown Greenway Coalition and its various programs, according to Jensen.
Jensen said he believes the Greenway Glow allows people to come out and have a good time viewing all the art as well as enjoying free food among other perks they get from registering for the night bike ride.
“It’s a way for people to have a good time, they get to visit all the art projects,” Jensen said. “We have a private party for them and then a post-party for them and they get all kinds of free food and fun things.”
According to Jensen, the night bike ride and the arts festival are scheduled at the same in order to get more people to visit the Greenway.
“We like to do (the events) at the same time because we think it adds a lot of fun to the bike ride,” Jensen said. “The arts festival is a great way to get people out and into the greenway, using it in a different and unique way as a glowing linear art gallery.”
Although sophomore Meg Wojtasiak has never gone to the Greenway Glow, she said she is interested in going to the arts festival portion.
“The name of it just sounds really fun. I would probably go to the arts festival because I’m interested in art more than exercise,” Wojtasiak said.
The arts festival portion is free, but the night bike ride costs $25 for youth 17 and under and $65 for adults. Jensen said adults can either pay $65 up front or they can pay $25 and then have friends help donate the rest to get up to the total of $65. If kids want to get the glowing t-shirt, they need to fundraise an additional $25, according to Jensen.
The proceeds from the night bike ride fundraiser go to help the effort of protecting and enhancing the Midtown Greenway, according to Jensen.
“We have something called ‘trail watch’ which is a nighttime patrol of people on bikes followed by volunteers patrolling the greenway,” Jensen said. “We have gardening programs, we have art programs, we have various clean-up programs, all the things that we do to protect and enhance the Midtown Greenway.”
Jensen said his favorite part of the event is the feeling he gets when seeing people get out to enjoy the greenway instead of merely passing through.
“I like just seeing all the people out and seeing the greenway in a different way, see it as a destination, see it as a place where there’s so much possibility for it to be more than just a bike trail,” Jensen said.
The dual event takes place 6 p.m. to midnight, with the majority of the arts festival happening from 8 p.m. to midnight June 20 at the Midtown Greenway.
For more information and to register for the night bike ride, visit midtowngreenway.org.