Seymour Main Street continues to find new ways to attract people to visit and support the downtown.
On Saturday, the organization will conduct the first Downtown Bike Around in conjunction with the Seymour Area Farmers Market and the Downtown Shop Around event.
Also supporting the ride is the Seymour Rotary Club, which is using it as a fundraiser to purchase fitness equipment to be installed along the Crossroads Community Trails in Seymour.
The family-friendly Downtown Bike Around ride features short, safe, 2- to 4-mile routes that allow participants to explore downtown Seymour on a bicycle.
Registration begins at 9 a.m. in the Walnut Street Parking Lot, where the farmers market is located. The cost is $10 per cyclist. The ride will begin at 9:30 a.m. and will leave from the northeast corner of the Robertson Mill Parking Lot across from the farmers market.
Children who register for the ride will receive Sprout Bucks, which they can use to purchase items at the farmers market.
After the ride, people can shop and dine in downtown Seymour during the Downtown Shop Around, which goes until 3 p.m. Pick up a Downtown Shop Around card at any of the 17 participating businesses. Visit at least eight shops and get the card punched at each location for an entry to win a gift certificate at the store of their choice.
Those who visit all 17 stores will receive two entries into the drawing. There will be seven winners drawn.
Participating merchants are Quirky Living, Claire Marie, Seymour Area Farmers Market, Copper Rooster, Artistic Impressions, Union Hardware, Hearts Desire Gift Shop, Revel Salon, Popsey’s Electric Tattooing Co., Greemann’s Furniture and Mattress Gallery, Beautiful Chaos, TekHead, Lea Boutique, Tiemeiers Jewelry, My Hoosier Hearth, Picket Fence and Stacy’s Stitching.
Also to raise money for the Crossroads Community Trails, the Seymour Rotary Club is hosting a series of social hours at local restaurants.
The first will be from 5 to 6 p.m. Monday at Pizza Palace. The cost is $25. Mayor Craig Luedeman will be the speaker, and he will discuss how the future downtown park will fit into the city’s vision for the trails system.
Seymour Rotary recently received a $2,000 matching grant from its district organization to put toward a community project, said Rachel Blish, Seymour Rotary community service chair.
The club believed there was an opportunity to provide a platform to raise awareness of the trails and raise its matching dollars at the same time, Blish said.
“Rotarians wanted to provide something of long-lasting benefit to the community,” she said. “We wanted to pick a project where we could roll up our sleeves and really pitch in.”
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What: Seymour Main Street’s Downtown Bike Around
When: Registration is at 9 a.m. Saturday; ride leaves at 9:30 a.m.
Where: Registration is at the Seymour Area Farmers Market in the Walnut Street Parking Lot in downtown Seymour; ride leaves from the Robertson Feed Mill Parking Lot across the street from the farmers market
Routes: 2- and 4-mile, family-friendly routes
Cost: $10 per cyclist; money raised goes to support the Community Crossroads Trails system in Seymour
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