This week at Bike Happy Hour: Freeya, special guests, open mic, and more

After some of you got soaked in a rain storm last Wednesday, it looks like we’ll be back out on the Gorges Beer Co patio for Bike Happy Hour this week. I’m excited to see everyone as we welcome a few special guests and try out a new open mic segment.

First off, our friends from Freeya have stepped up as sponsors. Yay! They’ll be on hand to tell you all about their fantastic app. Never heard of Freeya? It’s a very cool app where you list and find free stuff. Think of it like a much better version of free piles, buy-nothing groups, or Craigslist. It’s a simpler, less-hassle-y way to keep stuff out of landfills, while finding great treasures and helping other people. And it just so happens that the folks behind it love bikes, ride bikes, and understand that bikes and free pile scores go hand-in-hand. (In 2022 they even put on a cool Pedalpalooza ride.)

“It’s fun! It’s not Facebook! It’s not creepy. Freeya works hard to get out of the way of your free stuff treasure hunting,” they say.

This week at Happy Hour, anyone who downloads Freeya and creates an account gets a free hat or tote bag, and a one-month of their premium membership at no cost. Folks who set up a Freeya account will also be entered into a raffle to get a 1-year Freeya Pro membership (which gets you stronger search, more time to pickup items, and more) and cool bike prizes.

Here’s that website again to learn more — Freeya.com. Or better yet, follow them on Instagram.

But wait, there’s more…

Happy Hour regulars know I like to encourage special guests to join us. And this week, I’m thrilled to welcome an old friend from PBOT: none other than Linda Ginenthal! Linda is a PBOT retiree who now lives in Victoria, Canada and will swing into Happy Hour during her visit to Portland. Some of you might remember her as Sunday Parkways program manager back in the day. Linda was behind a lot of cool stuff at PBOT and she spearheaded the Sunday Parkways program before the idea of “open streets” were even a thing around here. Linda is awesome, was a true believer in carfree cities who pushed the city in a positive direction, and someone I greatly respected in the early years of BikePortland. I hope you get a chance to meet her.

You might also meet a city council candidate. So far we’ve had three candidates give stump speeches (thanks Timur, Daniel and Robin) and I’d love to keep that going. If you are one of the 19 council candidates, you are welcome to grab our mic and share your vision for Portland with our crowd. We’d love to hear from you!

Speaking of mics, I’ll try an open mic segment where anyone can step up and share a story or comment or question about whatever is on their mind. Please keep them short, and you can’t complain or rant about anything. We want to hear your cycling-inspired spoken word poetry, an insight into how we can make our city better with bikes, your BikePortland story pitch, your dream project, your bike-related talent, and so on.

And since we’re working with Freeya this week, I’ll ask everyone who comes on the mic: “What the craziest thing you’ve picked up on your bike?”

That’s it for now, follow us on Instagram for updates and additions to the program.

See you Wednesday!

Bike Happy Hour – Every Wednesday All Year Long
3:00 to 6:00 pm
Gorges Beer Co / Ankeny Tap – SE Ankeny & 27th (On the “Rainbow Road plaza!)
$2 off drinks (full menu, includes non-alcoholic and coffee from Crema)
BikeHappyHour.com – “See you Wednesday!”