The shop schedule for August 2017 is as follows:
Sundays – August 6, 13, and 20 – Shop Open Noon to 4 PM (closed August 27)
Tuesdays – August 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29 – Shop Open 5 PM to 8 PM
Thursdays – August 3, 10, 17, and 31 – Shop Open 5 PM to 8 PM (closed August 24)
The 2017 bicycle give away count is now over 500!! Over half of those have been given away to individuals at the shop, and the rest have been donated to Free Bikes 4 Kidz. They have a generous supporter who has supplied free storage space so we are able to send our over abundance of kid bikes to them. This has been a great help to us, as we have been buried in kid bikes in past years and have struggled to store them. We also have supplied some bicycles to Family Means, which operates a couple of earn-a-bike programs in Washington County.
We have a lot of events coming up in August. First, we will be traveling to Winnipeg for the 2017 North American Bike! Bike! conference. This is where various community bike shops, non-profits, and bike program operators get together to teach each other skills to help all of us become more effective at what we do. We attended last year’s event in Detroit, and are eagerly looking forward to going to Winnipeg. We have never been there, so this is exciting.
Right on the heels of Bike! Bike!, we have two events scheduled with the University of Minnesota. We will bring some of our ready-to-ride bicycles to the U of M Welcome Week event on August 29, and then more of them to the September 2 bike sale at the U of M’s ReUse Center. At last year’s re-use event, over 100 bicycles were sold in just 3 hours! This is a major fund generator for MMRB. This sale is open to the general public, and hundreds of ready-to-ride bicycles will be available for sale at bargain-basement prices. People start lining up at least a couple of hours in advance of the noon sale start time, but it is worth it to get a shot at buying a ready-to-ride bike for around $100. There are seriously good deals at this sale.
We also will be at the Eco Building at the Minnesota State Fair on Friday, September 1 at the ReUse Minnesota booth. Stop by and chat with us about bikes, re-use, or whatever is on your mind. If you come at the right time, you just might meet junior roller derby’s own Pop Star! She helped us out at last year’s booth, and plans a repeat appearance. We always have a great time at this event, so plan your visit to the Fair on September 1 and come see us!
September starts cleanup season again, and we have recycling events schedule for the cities of Andover and Inver Grove Heights. This is our first trip to IGH, so if you live there and haven’t had the chance to visit us yet, bring your excess bicycles to us. September is also the St. Paul Classic, and we will again have an information table at the ride’s start/end at University of St. Thomas. Stop by our booth and say Hi.
As always, all are welcome at the shop, so if you haven’t been there for awhile, or have been meaning to visit, we look forward to seeing you there. Have a great month.