By Erin Curry
On Saturday, our second annual ProfiteROLL pastry scavenger hunt hit Philly’s streets, and over 100 participants had a very sweet time, collecting treats from 14 stops!
ProfiteROLL is a unique event in that it combines two sometimes seemingly separate parts of our work: our advocacy for safer streets and the fun side of riding a bicycle that’s core to our mission. The ride is held in honor of Emily Fredricks, a pastry chef who was killed while riding her bike to work in the Spruce Street bike lane. The Fredricks helped create the ride, and Philadelphia’s restaurant and business community have embraced and supported it.
Great weather and great treats made this year’s ride a great time all around.
The ride took participants all over the city, with rewards at every stop. Please thank our amazing in-kind sponsors by visiting their businesses and supporting them!
- Cake Life Bake Shop– Located in Fishtown, this bakery created delicious gluten free peanut butter brownies for riders and dinosaur cookies for our youth bike rodeo participants. They were instrumental in helping us set up the 1st Profiteroll, and we were grateful to have them involved again this year.
- Hungry Pigeon– The Queen Village café baked fig & oat bars for our riders, perfect for powering them to the finish line. We were grateful to have them as a stop for a second year.
- Lost Bread Co – A new addition to the route this year, the Olde Kensington bakery provided burnt toast pistachio and cherry biscotti to everyone who stopped by.
- Fiore– This new modern Italian restaurant in the Queen Village neighborhood made bomboloni (freshly fried Italian doughnuts filled with pastry cream) and spelt chocolate chunk cookies. They both received rave reviews!
- Greenstreet Coffee Roasters– The Eleventh and Spruce café had coffee free to riders, which gave everyone a much-needed caffeine boost. The nearby Emily Fredricks Foundation table had a selection of French macarons and bicycle-shaped chocolates, and Laura Fredricks handed out “We Ride for Emily” t-shirts next to the memorial, which participants donned for the ride.
- Capital One Cafe– Our Walnut Street neighbors and proud sponsor of Bicycle Coalition Youth Cycling provided doughnuts from Oteri’s Bakery, as well as a nice spot to rest and charge phones.
- Taffets– This South Philly staple made amazing gluten-free sweets.
- Sweet Box– The Midtown Village bakery had cookie dough bites. Made without raw egg, they provide all the childhood nostalgia of cookie dough without the worry!
- Parc Restaurant– The Rittenhouse bistro created a selection of French macarons.
- United By Blue– With two stops, the Flagship and Walnut Street locations had brownies and raspberry oat bars for our riders.
- Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach– The Rittenhouse office provided delicious brownies baked by Tish Smith of Friday Saturday Sunday as well as a healthy snack option of fruit. They participate in ProfiteROLL as part of their CARE Events initiative.
- Ramona Susan’s Bake Shop– The Fishtown bakery with their walk-up service window baked cookies and re-hydrated riders with samples of their passionfruit iced tea.
- The ProfiteROLL post-ride party took place across from the International, which tapped Lagunitas with proceeds going to the Bicycle Coalition. Main Line Health sponsored a free youth helmet giveaway, with additional support from Fette Sau and Frankford Hall. A youth bike rodeo tested youngsters’ cycling skills, and rewarded them with treats of their own from Cake Life Bake Shop. Lagunitas had an adult lounge with drinks and games, and Feast Your Eyes Catering made a croquembouche that was enjoyed by all participants. Thank you to Fishtown Co. for our post-ride celebration location and your support of the event. And thank you to Cadence Restaurant for donating dinner for 2 as the prize for a lucky ride finisher, Matt L.!
Relive the day or find yourself in our Facebook photo album from the event here!
Read Bicycle Coalition member Silvia’s recap of the day here.
