Aliyya Swaby Photo
Smith details plans.
Parking spots filled up quickly as people arrived to the party — resulting not in a line of cars, but rows of bikes U‑locked to sign poles down Bradley Street.
The cyclists chose bikes over cars to take to the party, held Wednesday evening to celebrate the start of the second annual New Haven Bike Month at the Bradley Street Bike Coop Wednesday evening. It was the start of a monthlong series of events promoting bike culture, safety and community around the city.
A steering committee has been planning Bike Month since November.
Throughout the month of May, people have the choice of various group rides, bike maintenance workshops, themed movie nights, and block parties in different New Haven neighborhoods, including Dixwell, the Hill, Fair Haven and East Rock.
Cycling advocates Paul Proulx and Martin Torresquintero.
This year, organizers focused on working with neighbors from areas outside of downtown, East Rock and Wooster Square, t
o broaden the boundaries of the bike-centered celebration. Whalley/Edgewood/Beaver Hills management team chair Nadine Herring worked with the event steering committee to bring an “Open Streets” block party to Whalley, which she said was the first time the neighborhood had been included in a citywide biking event.
The committee tried to “ensure New Haven Bike Month touches every neighborhood,” said organizer Caroline Smith to the crowd Wednesday. “We believe in a community for cyclists by cyclists.”
Martin.
The Bradley Street Bike Coop is a central site for the month, with repair workshops held at the 138 Bradley St. garage space every Wednesday and a block party hosted from it May 13. John Martin, who started the coop last fall as a way to build community around bike maintenance, was on the clock even during the celebration, handing tools out to people who took advantage of the location to get a quick repair done.
Bike Month organizer Coby Zeifman sold “passports” to the city’s Tour De Brew, a series of group rides to seven different breweries in May, to merge the worlds of biking and craft beer.
The full calendar for the month is here, with events starting May 1.
Click on or download the above sound file to listen to Martin, Herring and Devil’s Gear Bike Shop’s Johnny Brehon talk about diversifying bike culture in New Haven on WNHH radio’s “In Transit.”