Go Green, Go Dutch, Go Bike - ArtPrize edition

Summary: On Saturday, September 25, 2010, more than one hundred students, faculty and staff, and community members are expected to bicycle roundtrip from Calvin to downtown Grand Rapids as part of 'Go Green, Go Dutch, Go Bike,' an event celebrating the role of the bicycle in urban Dutch culture.

See full story: http://www.calvin.edu/news/2010-11/go-bike

The Calvin community will get a great view of ArtPrize during the event's opening weekend. Cyclists from Calvin and the community will cycle past several of the outdoor sites as a part of 'Go Green, Go Dutch, Go Bike.'

The event, which celebrates the role of the bicycle in urban Dutch culture, runs from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday, September 25, 2010. Mayor George Heartwell and Dutch Honorary Consul General Paul Heule will say a few words to kick off the event and then see the riders off from Van Noord Arena. The riders will then cycle downtown, before returning to campus.

"In the Netherlands, more than any other country on earth, trips of under five kilometers-whether those are journeys to church or journeys to work or journeys to shop or to school-are undertaken on bike," said Henk Aay, Calvin professor of geology, geography and environmental studies and the organizer of the event.

'Go Green, Go Dutch, Go Bike' was the inspiration of the Dutch Consulate in Toronto, which wanted to promote Dutch cycling as an environmentally friendly model for other countries. Aay, who was born in the Netherlands, would love to see the Dutch bicycle-friendliness take hold elsewhere.

"When I am in the Netherlands on a bike, the cars are very aware of me," he said, "which is not true in various North American cities."

The event is sponsored by the Frederik Meijer Chair in Dutch Language and Culture and costs $15, which includes a t-shirt and a $5 donation to "The Motion Initiative: an urban cooperative youth bicycling ministry."

For more info, contact Aay at 616-526-7033.

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Received on Thu Sep 23 08:44:37 2010