Inspired by Sunday Parkways, Beaverton to get ‘Sunday Trailways’

A tour of the West Side-29

Event will encourage folks to get out and enjoy the Fanno Creek Trail.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland

The Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District (THPRD) has just announced its first ever “Sunday Trailways” event will be held on June 24th.

THPRD spokesman Bob Wayt says they’ve recognized the success of Portland’s Sunday Parkways (which boasted a crowd of nearly 30,000 last month), and they wanted to give Beaverton-area residents something similar. Wayt calls Sunday Trailways an “active outdoor event with a twist.”

The free event is scheduled to run from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm and will celebrate the Fanno Creek Trail (which we happened to write about earlier today). There will be activities for all ages at various points along the path, which runs 4 1/2 miles from the Garden Home Recreation Center to Greenway Park. Some of the scenic areas along the route are the Koll Wetlands, the Fanno Farmhouse and Vista Brook Park.

Lisa Novak, the Park District’s superintendent of programs and special activities, says the event will meet many of their objectives: “It promotes awareness of our trails, it’s active, it’s community and family-oriented, it highlights our natural resources and it showcases a non-motorized alternative for city travelers.”

Sunday Trailways will kick off with a grand opening ceremony to mark completion of a missing link on the Fanno Creek Trail (a half-mile segment extending from the intersection of Scholls Ferry Road and Allen Blvd to the end of 105th that was finished in January).

I’ve been hearing this was coming for a while now, and it’s great to finally see it materialize. It’s a good first step; but the true spirit of Sunday Parkways is that it uses major public roads. Even the City of Portland has had trouble using major thoroughfares for Sunday Parkways, so I’m not surprised the THPRD decided to start small by just using the trail. But hopefully future events will move this carfree event onto the roads where it belongs.

In a statement about the new event, THPRD said they encourage folks to, “Ditch the car for a day and celebrate nature with friends and family.” Check out THPRD.org for more info.

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.

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OregonBicyclist
OregonBicyclist
11 years ago

Cool.

It’d be nice to see the suburbs encourage more bicycling. Beaverton had a 3.1% bike mode share in 2010 compared to Portland’s 6% and Gresham’s 0.4%: https://public.sheet.zoho.com/public/bikeleague/2010-bike-commuters-all-places-1

Gregg
11 years ago

I was suprised to see that there are 397 bicycle commuters in Lansing MI, until I saw that the margin of error is 505 people. Negative 108 sounds a little more accurate.

Hoover P.
Hoover P.
11 years ago

This will no doubt be great fun, and THPRD certainly has a trail system to generally be proud of. But isn’t the Sunday Parkways comparison a little awkward, understanding that Portland’s event is, to a significant degree, about taking back the streets for a day?

matt picio
11 years ago

Better walk it rather than ride it. Most of the Fanno Creek Trail is pretty narrow – if the event draws a significant number of people, it’s going to be really hard to ride much of it safely in many sections.

Joe
Joe
11 years ago

BTW K’Tesh is cool dude doing good things towards human transport much like bikeportland 🙂

K'Tesh
11 years ago
Reply to  Joe

Thanks. I was surprised to see myself up on the site today.

Matthew
Matthew
11 years ago

Ok where can I get that bike pin?

K'Tesh
11 years ago
Reply to  Matthew

I scored that one at the Bike Gallery

Paul Hanrahan
Paul Hanrahan
11 years ago

It’s also on the same day as Sunday Parkways in N Po. The more bike events the merrier!

Michelle
Michelle
11 years ago

What’s the twist?

peejay
peejay
11 years ago
Reply to  Michelle

The twist is: they don’t want to get in the way of the almighty car!

Joe
Joe
11 years ago

I was giving props but my comment is awaiting moderation.

Joe
Joe
11 years ago

I can’t wait for the day we link all burbs with Portland. but we are getting
close. Wilsonville to Beaverton. Some of thr roads in Oregon have car litter

GlowBoy
GlowBoy
11 years ago

THPRD has a great — and growing — trail network. I rode the “missing link” segment of the Fanno Creek Trail (mentioned above) a few days ago, and it’s really nice.

And they’ve got plenty of plans for expansion. One example: last week THPRD held some public meetings about the new Westside Connector, which ultimately will link the existing trail network with Forest Park. Starting near Millikan Way, the route will follow the N-S powerline just west of Murray up to somewhere around Old Germantown Road, then head more easterly (not sure of the exact route of this segment) to get a reasonably gradual climb up the west hills to Skyline. This will be truly awesome when completed.

As good as the THPRD system is, safe connections between the system and Portland are still VERY limited. As a regular Portland-to-Beaverton commuter I’m all too painfully aware of this.

Kristen
Kristen
11 years ago
Reply to  GlowBoy

Incorrect– the Westside Connector will eventually connect the Tualatin River to Forest Park. And there’s plans to continue the Westside Connector all the way to Wilsonville.

Geez, people, it’s like all the off-street trails end at the Beaverton-Tigard border. News flash, they don’t.

Tigard-Tualatin-Beaverton are connected in a lot of neat ways. You should go check it out.

GlowBoy
GlowBoy
11 years ago

Oh, and I’d second what matt picio said: if it’s reasonably well-attended, plan on spending plenty of time walking. The FCT is quite a bit narrower than the typical Portland street in Sunday Parkways.

Gregg
11 years ago

I wish that they did this in July or August. I’d like to visit the Beaverton, but I’m not about to leave Pedalpalooza to do it.

dmc
dmc
11 years ago

Just rode the Fanno Creek Trail for my first time two weeks ago. Took Bonita Rd. to Iron Mountain BLVD. to Lake Oswego. The rest of the ride into Portland was unpleasant. An amazing experience overall. I wouldn’t suggest taking Riverside Dr. Learned the hard way….

scaryseth
scaryseth
11 years ago

Nice, will have to get out and check it out. Would probably start a ride down the Fanno Creek trail anyway 😉

Joe Adamski
Joe Adamski
11 years ago

Owing to the narrow trails, I am guessing it will be more like a cattle call. Sorry to sound negative, but imagine all the folks attending the 1st Sunday Parkways all channeled onto a 5 mile Springwater.

Adam Farwell
11 years ago

The trail might be narrow, but it still might work out pretty well. I think it’s a good idea to try it out at least. A little caution and optimism go a long way.

Kristen
Kristen
11 years ago

Jonathan, your article is incorrect– the Fanno Creek Trail runs from Garden Home all the way down past the Tigard Library and ends on SW Fanno Creek Dr down by Bonita.

Let’s not discount the rest of this fabulous trail just because Beaverton’s event stops at the Beaverton-Tigard border.