Event-Summer Solstice Beach bike ride June 21 Tues 6pm or meet us at Montrose Beach at 7pm

Dear neighbors, for 20+ years, the Riverbank Neighbors community has celebrated the Summer Solstice. It’s an event to celebrate the work, the beauty of nature, to share news of births and passings, and to welcome new community members. This year, we’re going to the beach and you’re invited.

If you would like to bike with us, please gather at Berteau at 6pm. There’s a group of us who do this often, even on hot days. It takes about 25 minutes at a gentle pace. We’ll follow the most calm bike route possible, kids on sidewalks with adult guides if the group is small. If the group is large and we have enough experienced bike leaders, it will be similar to a kidical mass ride. We ask all riders to only be positive and kind and wave or ring bells and say “thank you” to cars who kindly (or impatiently) wait for the bikes to pass. We will be biking all the way to the lake and back (with ~ 60-90 min of beach time in between) We’ll probably have kids with us, but please only bring kids with who have biked that distance before and bring plenty of water, extra to use to cool off. We have several 8 and 10 years olds who do it often, but it’s a hot day. We biked it yesterday with kids, not problem, so just bring water, and bring bike lights or reflective vests for the ride home.

Those who don’t want to bike are invited to join us at the beach at 7.. maybe by the bus or carpool. We’ll mark our spot on the beach with the big kite-like pinwheel that we often have had up at events in the past, so you can find us, unless the wind is too strong, in which case, we’ll stick near one of the lifeguard stations to the south side of Montrose Beach.

Suggested items to pack: beach blanket or towel, sunglasses for wind, drinks and/or nut-free food (there’s also “The Dock” restaurant at the beach or hot dog stands, of course), kites, toys for kids to build sand castles. ** bike lights and/or reflective items. If you don’t have them, it’s a good day to visit a local bike store.

Check back here for updates. Hope to see you there.

Jules

Upcoming Events…

Wed, June 15 Honorary Bike Ride- Lincoln Square More info here https://fb.me/e/2uaPmL3ly

Sat, June 18 Welles Park Eco-Fest more info here

Fri, June 17 6-7 Seeds and Weeds along the riverbank with Jules. Join at Berteau. pleasant, light work, peaceful time to enjoy nature and be with community. weather dependent. check the calendar, email, or facebook page for updates.

Hold the date.  Tues, June 21 Solstice. Different than the past. Activism for bike safety. Ceremony to recognize heroes in our midst. Ceremony to commemorate those lost to cars going too fast and toxic car culture. We’ll learn about ways to save lives, learn some songs, learn some native flowers in bloom.  and we’ll see old and new friends. Please email if you’d like to help organize or do setup/tear down for our solstice gathering. Perhaps we’ll go one a RBN bike ride.  Other ideas are being considered, weather dependent.

Please check for updates on our Riverbank Neighbor calendar.

Eco-Fest: see you there


Eco-Fest Welles Park
June 18 from 10 AM to 2 PM


The Green Council, Riverbank Neighbors, Waters Garden, and many other local environmental groups will be at the eco-fest. Please mark your calendars and come on by and say hello.


Gratitude to the 47th Ward’s youth and green councils, Alderman Matt Martin, Andi Aguila, the 47th Ward’s director of Small Business Affairs, the Welles Park Advisory Council and all those who’ve organized the fest. (and apologies for any I’ve missed, please let me know and I’ll amend this) Check out the website to see all the interesting things going on. We’d love to see you there! Here’s the link

Any of you who are part of Riverbank Neighbors or Waters Garden, we would love if you’d join us at our table. Hang out, make it easier and more fun! Email us to rsvp if you can join. At 10:40 we’ll be singing in the Gazebo, so arrive early for that if you’d like to join and know the songs or have a Waters student who wants to sing the songs they know well from field trips.

This is also an event where anyone wanting to do something to channel their anger and grief over the loss of three beloved precious humans from our families and communities. Two little children and one longtime neighbor, all killed by crashes on roads designed to prioritize fast cars, not human safety. We can do better. Learn more here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aNtsWvNYKE This 8 min video is the best we could find to very very quickly open people’s mind to a whole new kind of street design, one that studies show, saves many many lives and would have saved the lives of Lily, Raffi, and Peter.
Riverbank Neighbors aims to be better advocates for safety to work for safer streets.
Please email us if you watch this video, tell us your thoughts and if you’d like to organize some bike and pedestrian and safety advocacy/education in the name of Lily, Raffi, Peter, and others taken from us too soon.

Hope to See you Saturday, June 18, Welles Park, EcoFest