On Saturday, November 11, 2023, the Bicycle Coalition Education Team hosted our final official 2023 Better Bike Share Partnership (BBSP) Community Group Ride Fall Garden Tour in Southwest and West Philly. The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia (BCGP), Indego, and Get Fresh Daily (GFD) were joined by 12 participants of varying bicycling skill levels, ranging from beginners to experienced cyclists.
We began the ride at Malcolm X Park’s Indego station, located at the northeast corner of S. 52nd St. and Larchwood Ave. Our first stop was at the Woodlands Community Garden located inside the Woodland Cemetery. We were greeted by some of the Woodland Cemetery’s staff and volunteers and they educated the group about the rich history of the garden and cemetery itself. If you have never visited the Cemetery, it is a great place to walk, run, cycle, and escape the busy turbulence of the city. We continued our ride past Clark Park’s Farmers Market, the oldest year-round market in Philadelphia hosted by The Food Trust, to the Chester Avenue Community Garden.
This is a secret garden located between 47th St. and 48th St. on Chester Ave. The Chester Ave Community Garden was closed but we did get a moment to enjoy the green space before the garden. This garden is part of the Neighborhood Garden Trust (NGT) and was established in 1985 and is still planting strong. The residents were friendly and inviting, just make sure you don’t block the sidewalk and driveway with your bikes. Hopefully, we can advocate a “bikeway” or Indego station in the future. Click here to suggest an Indego Station in your community.
View this post on Instagram
Our third garden was the Warrington Community Garden, which was established in 1973 and is a part of the NGT. This is one of the largest and most popular gardens in the Baltimore Ave. neighborhood and is located at 4731 Warrington Ave. We were lucky enough to tour the garden and look at the variety of plants and vegetables that each resident gardener planted. A resident notified us that there is a two-year waitlist to get a plot in this garden so if you are interested, you better sign up now.
The last stop was at Get Fresh Daily’s very own garden, located at Global Leadership Academy 5200 Pine St. Jiana Murdic, CEO and founder of GFD, invited the group of riders back to their garden for some warm apple cider, fruits, and gluten-free donuts. GFD hosts a weekly year-round Fresh Takes, which distributes and/or delivers a box of local fresh produce to people who order from their community-supported agriculture (CSA). Their goal is to make plant-based living and eating in communities of color abundant, accessible, and affordable.
This was a great way to end the 2023 Better Bike Share Partnership educational bicycle classes and rides season with a garden bike tour. GFD has been an impactful partner this season by allowing us to host two Learn-to-Ride classes and a Community Group Ride. Even though this was our last ride for the season, we look forward to partnering with GFD in the 2024 season to provide another Garden Group Ride for people who missed this event. It is important for our Indego group rides to not only focus on making the bike share accessible, affordable, and equitable but also to work with community-based organizations that advocate for overall healthy living and resources for under-represented neighborhoods in Philadelphia.
If you know of any community-based organizations in the Philadelphia area that would like to partner with us in the 2024 season please email lor.song@bicyclecoalition.org.
BCGP Education Programs Manager