Tour de Ladd last year.
(Photos © J. Maus)
Just got the announcement and details about the second annual Tour de Ladd event. I attended this last year and it was excellent. Tons of schoolkids doing laps on carfree streets around the Ladd’s Addition neighborhood. What could be better?
The Tour de Ladd is put on by Abernethy School, which is located in the heart of one of Portland’s most bike-centric neighborhoods. The event is set up like the traditional walk-a-thons that many of you probably had at school when you were a kid. Parents and community members make pledges and money is raised based on the number of times they complete a 1/4 mile loop around the neighborhood.
According to Mia Birk, who volunteers at the event and has two kids enrolled at Abernethy, less than one-third of parents drive to the school and 100 out of 350 kids go by bike (either by themselves or with their parents). “Add walkers and bus riders, and traffic at the school is way down”.
Birk chalks up Abernethey’s success to the Safe Routes to Schools Program, parent leadership, and a very supportive principal.
Hundreds of kids are expected to participate and the money goes to the Abernethy Foundation which funds things like music and arts in the classroom (which unfortunately these days needs outside funding).
Why is Abernethy the only Portland school doing this? More schools should have bike-a-thons. It’s a great way to raise money, get kids on their bikes, and show them what it feels like to ride on their streets without fear of cars.
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2nd Annual Abernethy Elementary “Tour de Ladd”
Wed., October 7th — riders begin at 9 AM and continue until at least 11:30 AM
Abernethy Elementary, 2421 SE Orange
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Wow what a great event. When I was in grade school(woodstock), lots of kids rode bicycles to school. Maybe this is the starting of wonderful childhood memories again. Mia and the principal of Abernanthy should be commended and encouraged, they all are doing wonderful things.
This is a great event. When will it be? And do they need non-parent volunteers? I’m a neighbor to the school and have been thrilled with all the walkers and bikers coming and going since the term started!
Katie, it will be next Wednesday, October 7, starting at 9 am. And YES, we can use all the volunteers we can get, parents or not! Drop me a line – jjfantastic_at_hotmail_dot_com – and I’ll hook you up with our volunteer coordinator!
I think most other schools do Run for the Arts as a way to raising money for these programs. It seems like Mia Birk hit one why other schools aren’t doing this sort of thing. The innovative fundraising ideas come from the parents.
ME 2 – Abernethy does hold Run for the Arts in the spring to raise money for arts-specific educational programming, such as the artists in residence program and music or theatrical performances.
The Tour de Ladd raises money for the Abernethy Foundation, which funds teacher salaries above and beyond what the school district allots. The money raised last year (from TdL, direct fundraising, the school auction, a pancake breakfast, etc) is currently paying the salaries of the music teacher and librarian, but can be used for whatever staffing needs the principal deems most necessary.
As one of the co-organizers of the Tour de Ladd this year, I won’t lie – it’s a heckuva lot of work to pull it off. We have to get a permit from the City to close the streets and we have to organize a ton of volunteers to count laps, pin numbers on kids, watch the bike corral for the day, man the barricades the closed intersections, etc, but it was such a fun and successful event last year that it’s totally worth it. Here’s hoping the weather forecast for next week holds and we have an even better Tour this year!
My daughter was a 5th grader at Abernethy last year and participated. She loved it! As new Portlanders, this event and Saturday Parkways have gone a long way toward changing her worldview about bikes. I hope it continues for years into the future.