Homeowners Austin and Anna Bryan led the initiative—and community’s creative energies—to commission a vibrant mural on the southern side of their residence. This side is on the 3rd Street corridor of the Coler Mountain Bike Preserve and is a heavily trafficked area among cyclists, walkers, runners, outdoor enthusiasts visiting our community, and families with children from a nearby school. The mural reflects the neighborhood’s spirit, creates a sense of pride, and promotes art, nature, fitness and connectivity. Local artists created the mural.

Following the storms and tornadoes that came through the area Memorial Day weekend, the community rallied to get the South Walton Greenway cleaned up. All ages, from 5 to 65, and all abilities helped out, with Gnargo Bike involved in the emergency response efforts.

This social media campaign promoted bold bike fashion and encouraged people to use active transportation to attend Interform’s NWA Fashion Week at the Fayetteville Public Library. The project was a joint venture between Bentonville Moves Coalition, Interform and Bentonville School’s Ignite Professional Studies program. Ignite students filmed people out and about, especially those on bikes and using the trail systems, asking them about their active-wear fashion choices. People also could enter a giveaway by sharing a photo of their #nwabikefashion, which ultimately increased the social media activity and awareness for all organizations involved.

Creating vibrant and visually striking artwork along an active transportation corridor in Bentonville, this mural spreads a message of inclusivity in the community. Dozens of community members, including cyclists, local artists, volunteers and residents offered a helping hand (and paintbrush) to paint the mural over several days, promoting a sense of belonging through art. A community unveiling and fun bike ride added excitement and sense of shared pride.

This virtual workshop series hosted by All Bikes Welcome made its YouTube debut in May. They held the second in July and another in November. Each workshop highlighted a different topic, like basic bike maintenance. With more than 100 people either watching live or viewing the videos afterward, the All Bikes Welcome team is clearly headed down the right path in its education and awareness efforts. A hundred percent of those surveyed, for example, reported an increase in confidence in basic bike maintenance after attending the workshop.

This mural painted by Magic Hat Muralist on a downtown Bentonville garage door in a key high-traffic location, adds visual interest and promotes the benefits and camaraderie of biking.

Allencroft, an active community in the heart of Bentonville, hosts family-friendly events throughout the year, two of which are the Allencroft Bike Race and the Allencroft Turkey Trot. The bike race gets neighbors on the Allencroft bike trail, which connects the neighborhood to the Slaughter Pen trails. The Turkey Trot, held Thanksgiving morning, includes a Kids Fun Run and the Run Like A Beast Before You Feast race.

All Kids Bike is on a mission to teach every child in the U.S. how to ride a bike in their kindergarten PE class. Obviously, biking serves as a source of activity, play, community connection and transportation for the children of Bentonville. We expect around 300 kindergarteners in three additional Bentonville schools to participate in the program. With a program lifespan of 10 years, that means nearly 3,000 students will learn to ride.

Organized by students and a few incredibly supportive parents from around the Bentonville community, Choose Love is a family event that focuses on compassion, gratitude, forgiveness and courage. Last year’s event welcomed over 2,000 people who enjoyed an activity or craft developed and hosted by participating students. The goal is to spread the message of Choose Love and let students assume leadership roles and use their voice for the betterment of others.

Part bike ride, part scavenger hunt, Cranksgiving is a community food drive on two wheels. Cyclists pedal the streets and trails of Northwest Arkansas, searching for traditional Thanksgiving dinner ingredients. After they find all of their ingredients, cyclists return to the finish line and put the ingredients into a donation box to help feed over 1,000 community members.

To complement this group’s live performances of the traditional art form of Natyam and Sapthaswara, a drawing/painting competition called “Moving in Bentonville” will be held to highlight transportation and mobility awareness. During the performances, children ages 8 to 14 can draw, paint or color their original ideas and submit them to receive a prize announced at a later date.

The Sturbridge subdivision is improving the landscape along the Third Street bike route. The route leads to and from the Coler Mountain Bike Preserve. The Sturbridge neighborhood is one of the first that cyclists see on the bike route from Walton to the Coler Preserve. Initiatives include professional plantings at two entrances into the subdivision and fence improvements along Third Street.

This community event promotes White Oak Trails as a bike-friendly neighborhood for all families and levels of expertise. With Coler Mountain Bike Preserve less than two miles away, and Elm Tree elementary and Ardis Ann middle schools less than half a mile away, White Oak Trails is poised to be the flagship community for bike-friendly neighborhoods in West Bentonville.

Bike trains to and from these schools have grown from 20 riders to between 50 and 70 regular riders within months. To meet growing interest and participation in this bike train, additional safety vests; signage for bike train stops; promotional materials, like T-shirts and flyers; and rider training and party help ensure continued safe and enjoyable rides for students, their families and the volunteers who man the activity.

Three founding members of CrossTrail Riders—Dianne DeHart, Kimberly Boucher and Aileen Ramsey—formed a bike group to do a monthly ride on the night of the full moon. Its purpose is to enjoy a ride on the Greenway at night, so that people can become comfortable with it while enjoying the sight of the full moon. Rides are held each month from April through October. Recently, the group was invited to be a Bike-a-Palooza sponsor. While they had accumulated some items, like a table and flyers, to use for upcoming events, they jumped at the chance to apply for a grant to purchase a canopy with the club’s name and logo for this special sponsorship. The canopy, they say, gives them the look of legitimacy as a bike group.

Welcoming nearly 10 people so far at each event, the Two Friends Bookstore & Cafe is hosting a new book club series. Participants are mostly transplants to Bentonville looking for community and are new to transportation planning. The book club has motivated them to be more engaged in city efforts around cycling and walking. An unforeseen bonus, a spin-off group has started meeting to attend city council meetings to lobby for sidewalk continuity.

Hosted by the Ra-Ve Cultural Foundation, the transportation mela was a lively, interactive event that celebrated sustainable transportation and community connection. (Mela is a Sanskrit word meaning “gathering” or “to meet.”) Bentonville Moves Coalition and Ozark Regional Transit (ORT) shared new routes, school trains and other transportation-related topics at the event. ORT brought even more fun by organizing a scavenger hunt for kids and showcasing their ADA-accessible bus, allowing the public to experience its features firsthand. Buddy Pegs Family Bike Shop joined the excitement, too, setting up a fun racecourse for kids. In collaboration with the City of Bentonville, attendees also were introduced to the new e-bike rebate program, and two e-bikes were available for test rides. Children enjoyed activities, including races and painting sessions, with gift cards awarded to winners.