The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Viridian Law.
BAR HARBOR—Southwest Harbor Police Sergeant Rick Graham smiled and leaned over, Saturday, August 22. His voice had a hushed joy to it as he explained that the Lions Club had just given a girl a bike. Not the raffle winning bike. Another one. For a kid who wanted one.
“Right there,” he said, head tilting toward the girl who was shyly waiting as Bob Shields, the owner of Southwest Cycle, made sure the bike was fine tuned and perfect.
It wasn’t quite the right size, Shields decided.
They grabbed another one and made sure it was perfect as other kids rode between the orange cones laid out in front of the Southwest Harbor town office and emergency services building.
One boy, Allan, had a tumble, but Russell Clark from the Lions Club rushed over, reached out, and helped Allan back up and got him on the road again.
“Don’t forget your water bottle,” Allan’s mom, Tanya Hanke, called.
Allan scrambled over to where the water bottle had rolled away.
When he turned back around toward his bike, Clark was still there waiting, holding the bike up for him. They both smiled at each other. Allan hopped on and then he was off again, cruising around the cones.
Nearby, the girl who was getting a new bike for free was having a helmet fitting by Sgt. Graham with an assist from mom.
Beyond them, helmets were handed out, knee pads were wrapped around legs, cones were zig-zagged around.
Just about twenty-five helmets or so were given out to keep the young cyclists safer during the Southwest Harbor Bike Rodeo. Kneepads were there too. Food and talk and laughter filled the air.
In Maine, bicyclists under 16 are required to wear helmets. Sometimes, those, that’s cost prohibitive for families who are trying to get by.
Bike rodeos are about safety. They’re about getting some riding skills. But the Lions Club members Clark and club secretary Weston Porter, Bob Shields, and Sgt. Graham know it’s more than that.
They are about community, about helping each other, and helping each other’s kids out.
The emergency personnel combined with businesses combined with the Lions Club, a service organization to create something that was bigger than a bike rodeo. It was a lesson in generosity on multiple levels. People gave time. People gave skills. People gave helmets and pads and even a bike.
But they also showed the kids who attended what it means to give and have fun and then give some more.
The effort between Southwest Harbor Police Department, the Lions Club, Southwest Cycle, Acadia Chamber members who donated to a raffle, and Southwest Harbor/Tremont Ambulance Service was meant to help kids be safer on their bikes and scooters, but it was also meant to help bring a community even closer together, the way it has during similar rodeos throughout the last few years.
Photos and video: Carrie Jones/Shaun Farrar/BHS
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Southwest Harbor Tremont Ambulance Service
Southwest Harbor Police Department
QUICK NOTE
We posted a lot more photos on our Facebook, which you can see here.
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Carrie, I can't seem to give this story a "like." That is very odd. What seems to be wrong? It isn't affecting any other story.