This weekend’s Philly Bike Expo is likely to be the biggest in the tradition’s young history. The two-day event at the Pennsylvania Convention Center is set to hook riders up with 16 separate events, 22 seminars and hundreds of exhibitors, from framebuilders to apparel companies to nonprofit organizations, like us. It begins Saturday morning at 10:30am and will end Sunday afternoon at 4pm.
We really recommend you make it out if you’re free this weekend. And if you do, be sure to stop by our table for circuit information, as well as the opportunity to become a member of the Coalition (which, as it happens, comes with an awesome “I Bike PHL” t-shirt.) Interested in renewable energy? The Energy Co-op will be donating $20 to the Bicycle Coalition for each new member they sign up this weekend.
As far as seminars go, there’s certainly something for everyone. The Bicycle Coalition’s Bike Share Outreach Manager Katie Monroe will be on hand to participate in two seminars—one dealing with policy, the other with commuting.
Regarding policy, Monroe will be on the “Better Bike Share – Inclusivity and Accessibility in Philadelphia’s Bike Share Program” seminar on Saturday morning, from 10:30am-11:30am. She’ll be joined by Carneisha Kawashie and Aaron Ritz of the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities and Becky Collins, SEPTA’s Strategy and Sustainability Planner. The Coalition has been working to make Philadelphia’s upcoming Bike Share program an inclusive model for the rest of the country; come prepared with questions for the panel.
Then, on Sunday, Monroe will be hosting the “Pedaling Professionally: Tips for dressing for your commute and office (by women, for women)” seminar, along with Lindsey Graham, Jennifer Bazydlo, Michelle Lee, Karenina Wolff and Claudia Setubal. That seminar, Monroe says, will be a “show and tell”-style seminar, in which five professional women who bike to work will provide tips and examples of their strategies on getting to the office and back home on a bicycle. That’ll take place at noon on Sunday.
In addition, we encourage you to check out the additional seminars, which will discuss topics from Family Biking to one man’s journey retracing the Underground Railroad on a bicycle, which was detailed in today’s Inquirer. Additionally, there are a number of rides which are coinciding with the race, including a Kidical Mass family ride from Fitler Square to the Convention Center.
Children 12 and under get into the Expo for free—a day pass with seminars is available through the Expo’s website for $12 (or $20 for a weekend all-access pass; or $8 for a day pass without seminars.)
For more information, check out the Expo’s website.