The Bicycle Postcard Project Confirms It: Miss Mills is in Love!
After a month of mostly glorious weather during June’s Bicycle Month, all the festivities have come to an end – the street party and potluck on Mill Street, the Silver Chain Challenge, the creatively-themed guided rides around our community, the PorchFest de Mississippi Mills, the professional cycling races – there really was something for everyone!
And then there was the Bicycle Postcard Project – a way for all participants, from the very young to the not so young, to share their feelings about what their bicycle means to them – on stunning postcards provided by Mill Street Books.
Here are just some of the comments from these postcards:
- My community is best seen in person. It’s not the destination but the ride – I feel like a kid every time I ride, and this town allows me to experience what living in Almonte feels like. – Ken
- I love my bike(s). Yes, one can have many different kinds of these amazing machines. I love my bikes because they are the most efficient non motorized machines on the planet. Their return on effort is the greatest of any non motorized machine offering a non polluting mode of transportation, a physical and mental health tonic, clear, clean creative thought, human scale social interaction, and intimate connection with the natural world. They are cool and beautiful and artful. I’ve never had a bad bicycle ride. I love my bikes! –Jeff
- I love my bike because it makes me see the world around me and stop to explore when the fancy takes me. It also makes me feel young even when the mirror doesn’t. – J
- I love biking because I love to feel the wind going through my hair. I feel free when I bike and I love to look at the Nature going by. – Eve
- I love cycling! Feel good in my bones and my brain – Karen
- Biking has helped me rediscover the town I grew up in with my son…and he loves it! – Jamie
- Biking is therapy, freedom, exercise and relationship building. – John
- I like biking cause going off-road is exciting and the fact you can do tricks and move without doing pollution. – Gabriel
- My bike always puts a smile on my face! – Paul
- My children and I bike around our town. I feel like I’m teaching them how to drive by pointing out signs and explaining ‘right-of-way’. They just like being with Mom. Lucy
- It gives me freedom to ride around the neighbourhood and visit friends and go to the skate park. Nathan
- My bike is a way for me to escape reality and stay in tune with the nature around me. Skyelyn
- I like the ride and the glide and stopping for a pint!
The message is clear: Cycling enhances the lives of so many in our community – it provides joy, fresh air, a closer connection with people and nature, aerobic exercise, and a cheap, quick mode of transportation. Imagine if even more people biked! There would be less pollution, traffic congestion, isolation, and illness. Let’s support cycling in our municipality by making it safer and easier to pedal around!
Many thanks to Scoops and Penny’s Fudge Factory in Pakenham, Mill Street Books and Equator Coffee in Almonte, and the Pakenham and Almonte branches of the Mississippi Mills Public Library, for providing venues for this project, and to Mary and Terry Lumsden of Mill Street Books for providing the unique bicycle postcards that inspired so many people.
View the full list of comments here.
View the Gallery of Postcards (bicycles and hand-printed comments) here.
