As temperatures and humidity levels drop, the Minnesota State Fair opens, and students and teachers prepare to return to school, the inevitable has arrived: summer is ending. Rather than mourn the loss of long days and sunny skies, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) is determined to enjoy it while it lasts with their Cycle the Summer End of Summer Celebration.
The festivities will occur at the Lake Nokomis beach parking lot on August 29 from 5 to 8 p.m. Activities include a BMX stunt show and a kids jump for the thrill-seekers, as well as bike mechanics 101 and bike-friendly vendors for the education-seekers. The event marks the conclusion of a bike-filled season in Minneapolis.
Since 2021, Cycle the Summer has incentivized Minneapolis residents to explore the city on two wheels. Its Passport Program takes cyclists along the Minneapolis Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway, a route that comprises one of the nation’s largest continuous systems of urban parks. The National Scenic Byway Foundation says the byway “has been the preeminent urban parkway system for more than a century.”
The Passport Program features eight stops along the byway that highlight some of its most prominent parks, including Bde Maka Ska and Cedar Lake in Minneapolis’s Chain of Lakes, Theodore Wirth Park with its miles of trails, and Minnehaha Park with its 53-foot waterfall. At each stop, participants scan a QR code, and once they collect all eight, they receive a prize.
Cycle the Summer also featured four Bike Help workshops in late July and early August, for those in need of cycling assistance from MPRB’s resident bike expert.
This program encourages community engagement with local parks and fits with MPRB’s larger goals around caring for the environment. It also fits with a statewide push to support cycling as an alternative mode of transportation, an effort apparent through programs like the e-bike rebate lottery.
Of course, MPRB’s event merely marks the end of summer, not the end of cycling. In true Minnesota fashion, the end of warm weather does not mean the end of the cycling season. Some cyclists continue to bike year-round, even on fat bikes in the winter. MPRB just offers a reason for bike lovers to celebrate the easy pedaling months.