walk it. roll it. bike it. bus it. block party

When I returned to the Lehigh Valley, I noticed a block party from Walk/Roll Lehigh Valley, part of the Lehigh Planning Commission. It was called "Walk it. Roll it. Bike it. Bus it." My original plan was to walk over, but I'm on deadline for a calendar project so I couldn't take a 3-hour break for a block party. I drove, parked 15 minutes away from the event, and also had a printout done of the calendar project to proofread. It was a win-win.

When I arrived at Broad and New everything was crowed around the old First Valley Bank Tower. This would have been a perfect spot back in the days when the street was closed off. There was a bus parked on New street. It was clean inside and out. From my point of view, this was clearly not a representation of the bus company. (I call the Fountain Hill bus the piggy bus. I'd rather walk.) Also on New Street was a bank of bikes. It did not look like ride-share bikes, but I could be wrong. That would be really cool. (In St. Louis there were ride-share electric scooters everywhere. People would leave them in the middle of the sidewalk.)

There was lots of booths. You had to sign a a wavier to go to the block party. That was a first. Mostly, I guess for photos. But they would have dance parties in the cross walks during the walk light. So if you participated, I guess a waiver was needed! By signing a waiver I got a choice of a baseball cap or a t-shirt. I chose the cap. It's not like I need either. I have a ton of both. But caps will always fit.

The vendors were all the organizations I expected. Wildlands and the D&L were promoting their trails. LANTA, of course. The Coalition for Alternative Transportation and THE LINK Trail Network. Wait that's something new.

THE LINK is an interconnected network of safe, beautiful multi-use trails offering Lehigh Valley residents and visitors the opportunity for year-round outdoor recreation, transportation, and healthy living. The network is made of 17 trails, I think I've been on all but two of them—Bushkill Twp. Trail, D&L, Forks Recreation, IRT, Jordon Creek, Art Trail, Lehigh Parkway, Monocacy Way, Nor-Bath, Palmer-Bethlehem Twsp, Saucon, Slate Heritage, South Bethlehem Greenway, Stockertown, and Tatamy. The two I haven't been on are Liberty-Water Gap and Plainfield Township.

I might try out Plainfield Saturday. According to TrailsLink the Plainfield Township Trail is a 6.9-mile rail trail in Plainfield Township, Pennsylvania. The trail extends from Stockertown to Pen Argyl. Stockertown is only 20-25. Lydia doesn't have to work so I'll ask her. Or maybe I'll email Debbie.

I also picked up a Yellow dot from Representative Samuleson's table. You put the dot on your car and first responders know to look in the glove compartment for information. Since I have no insurance, Maybe this would be good to have in my glove compartment.