Green Parent Chicago

The 606 to Open in Early June With 2 Days of Festivities

One of Chicago's newest parks is set to open on the city's northside June 6 with 2 days of free events.

The schedule of events planned for June 6 and 7 at The 606 will include a procession/parade, music and dancing, a pancake breakfast, restaurant vendors and hands-on activities for all ages.

Located at the site of the abandoned Bloomingdale railway line, the elevated "urban oasis" runs along Bloomingdale Ave. (1800 N), from Ridgeway Ave. (3750 W) on the west to Ashland Ave (1600 W) on the east, through the Bucktown, Wicker Park, Humboldt Park, and Logan Square neighborhoods.

The new park will be linked to 5 existing parks at street level. It was conceived by an alliance between The Friends of The Bloomingdale Trail, the City of Chicago, Chicago Park District, The Trust for Public Land, and dozens of other community groups. Construction took 2 years to complete.

The final design of the park space is credited to Collins Engineers, Lead Artist Frances Whitehead, and landscape designers Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates.

For a complete schedule of opening day events, visit: http://the606.org/events/openingday/

-Christine

 

Cargo Bike Week 2014 & Cargo Bike Roll Call This Sunday!

In celebration of the upcoming Roscoe Village Kidical Mass bike ride and Cargobike Roll Call this Sunday, I”m kicking off another Cargo Bike Week here at Ding Ding Let’s Ride!

First.. let’s make sure you have all the info for the Sunday event:

So what kind of cargo bikes can you expect to find at the Roll Call this weekend? Well, since we’ll be there,  you should expect to find at least one Yuba Mundo, a long-tail style of cargo bike.

Three Yuba Mundo cargo bikes with slightly different configurations at a March 2013 Kidical Mass ride in Logan/Palmer Square.

The organizers have stated they’ll have at least one WorkCycles brand bike there, and with the addition of my bike, that should make at least two of the Dutch-style utility bikes in attendance.

My WorkCycles Dutch utility bike, called am Omafiets. (Obviously this photo was taken in much Spring-i-er times.)

Sounds like this this WorkCycles FR8 cargo bike will be there too. This bike can haul some very heavy loads.

They’ve also mentioned that they’ll have a Bullitt cargo bike at the Roll Call ….

Getting a delivery via Bullitt cargo bike right to our front door.

and a Bakfiets!

A baby in a Bakfiets at the November 2013 Roscoe Village Kidical Mass ride.

Who knows what other bikes will be at the ride!?  Come join everyone for a short family bike ride/parade and stick around to look at cargo bikes!

-Samantha

This article originally appeared on Samantha's family biking blog Ding Ding Let's Ride where she writes about everyday biking in the city, bike activism, family biking, and adaptive biking for special needs children.

Green Festival This Weekend, GPC Readers Can Get Free Admission, Here's How:

If it's May in Chicago, then you know it's time for the mama and the papa of eco living events: Green Festival Chicago.

For one weekend only at Navy Pier, this Saturday and Sunday, the Green Festival will host DIY workshops, discussions and speakers, a Green Marketplace with the latest sustainable businesses and vendors, an Organic Beer and Wine pavillion, test drives of electric and hybrid vehicles, vegetarian and vegan food, and a Green Kids Zone with free activities for all ages of kids.

Definitely bring the kids and teens to Green Festival because 18 and under are free.

I'm very excited to check out the Green Festival this year, as I learn something new each year as I get discover all the great new local eco offerings around the Midwest and the country.

I'm also thrilled to tell you that Green Parent Chicago readers can get a special FREE weekend pass to the Green Festival. Just visit the festival website here and enter GREENPARENTCHICAGO for a free weekend pass good for both days. (A $20 value!) But, don't wait, it's a limited offer.

-Christine

 

Open Streets Chicago: A No Cars Allowed Party in the Street for All Ages

Ever wanted to take a nap in the middle of State Street? Me, neither. But, this weekend you'll get the chance to do this and much more at Open Streets Chicago. From chillin' on a "pop-up lawn" to testing your skills on a climbing wall or a mobile skate park, making chalk drawings, playing human tic-tac-toe or taking a two wheel spin with a free hour-long bike rental, there will be plenty of activities for all ages at Open Streets Chicago. 

The first of two separate events will take place in the Loop on State Street and Monroe Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The second will take place on Sept. 16 in Wicker Park/Bucktown on Milwaukee Avenue from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sponsored by the Active Transportation Alliance, the Chicago Loop Alliance and the Wicker Park & Bucktown Chamber of Commerce, as well as local and regional businesses, the event aims to promote community culture, safe, car-free public space, and provide a chance for families to experience the city in a new way.

For more information and a schedule of activities on State Street this weekend click here: http://openstreetschicago.org/loop/activities/

For more information and a schedule of activities on Milwaukee Avenue Sept. 16 click here:
http://openstreetschicago.org/wpb/schedule/ 

-Christine

Our Chicago Spring Eco-Fest Roundup

Get your home and garden ready for spring and summer with these upcoming eco festivals for the month of April and early May.

The Green Metropolis Fair returns this Saturday April 14. This free family friendly event is sponsored by Green Parents Network and The Green Exchange and runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. What can you find at the fest? Here's a sample:

• Hands on family-friendly activities: farm animals, Johnny Appleseed performance, gardening activities
• Over 100 local businesses and organizations
• Retail market with sustainable business vendors
• Food market with local restaurants and chefs
• Presentations from local experts throughout the day on gardening and sustainability topics.

The 20th annual Green & Growing Fair is a free urban gardening festival organized by GreenNet: Chicago's Greening Network and takes place from from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 28 at Garfield Park Conservatory. The event will showcase a variety of vendors, workshops, demonstrations, and family activities to "get your rusty green thumb up and running." The fair will also host the unveiling of  the winning seed in the  One Seed Chicago contest, which hopes to link thousands of the same community gardens, yards and window sills across Chicago in a season long celebration. This year’s seed "candidates" are herbs: basil, cilantro, chamomile.

Green Festival

The mama of all Chicago green festivals, sponsored by Green America and Global Exchange, returns May 5 to 6 at Navy Pier. Hours for the event are noon to 8 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. Featuring multiple stages of demonstrations, speakers, film screenings, a kids zone with family friendly activities and fun, vendors galore and much, more. Tickets are available online in advance and at the door.

Who's free?
• Youth 18 and under
• Bicyclists using the festival's bike valet
• Green Festival Volunteers
• Green America and Global Exchange members
• Union members with card

Social justice and environmental issues are expected to be the focus of this year's Green Festival with keynote speaker Rev. Jesse Jackson and other speakers to include: Laura Flanders, Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!; Jeffrey Smith; William Ayers; Bernadine Dohrn; Greg Palast and local leaders Naomi Davis of "Blacks in Green"; Bianca Alexander of "Conscious Living TV" and Karyn Calabrese.

-photo credit: roman.petruniak., flickr

New Bikes Exhibit at The Nature Museum Details Chicago's Bike Culture

 

A new self-produced exhibition Bikes! The Green Revolution debuts Friday at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

The exhibit runs March 30 through September 9, 2012 and, according to exhibit organizers, chronicles the roots of "America’s most democratic and sustainable form of transportation" and the future of people powered transportation in our changing urban landscapes.

"Bikes! The Green Revolution" is included in Nature Museum general admission.

For more information visit www.naturemuseum.org.

-photo credit: Whateverland.com/Lorena Cupcake, flickr

Spring is in the air, time to get your ride on at the Chicago Bike Swap

Today is sunny and warm and we just can't help but have spring fever. What better way to enjoy the coming warmth than to support planet friendly transportation in the city while trading your old bike for a new one at the Chicago Bike Swap.

This Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Chicago Bike Swap will take place at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse. Event organizers promise "more than 50 bike shops, merchants, nonprofits and individuals offering deals on bikes, parts, events and gear."

Here is a sampling of what you'll find at the event: demos and presentations on topics such as family biking and winter bike commuting, bike-themed games and activities, discounted registration for upcoming bike events and food and beverages available for purchase.

Admission to the Chicago Bike Swap is $5 for Active Transportation Alliance members and $10 for nonmembers. Kids 12 and under enter for free. To sell or swap a bike, attendees pay admission plus $5 per bike (limit three bikes).

Proceeds from the Chicago Bike Swap will benefit the Active Transportation Alliance, Chicago Bike Winter and the Chainlink.

 

We Have a New Bike! Welcome the Yuba Mundo!

We weren’t really planning on buying another bike, but we have been trying to figure out how we were going to continue to ride everywhere we want as a family.  With Little Ding riding his own bike instead of being towed in the bike trailer, we’ve been enjoying family rides in which we all ride together, but have been frustrated because now we can’t ride as far- he is not able to put in the same miles that we can.  We loved riding to the zoo for example, but that’s too far for him.

We had already considered a variety of  family cargo bikes but we’ve been limited by price as well as by storage. We live on the 2nd floor and do not have garage space.   No bakfiets, Madsens, Christianias, or other sorts of box-style cargo bikes would be suitable for us.  At a couple of the Kidical Mass rides we watched as one parent pulled up on an Xtracycle with her’s child’s toddler bike tucked into one of the side pockets. Brilliant!  But Little Ding’s bike is larger than a toddler bike, and has the two extra fat-tire ‘training’ wheels, and we weren’t sold on the Xtracycle for various reasons.

The Big Dummy wasn’t too bad, but a little pricey and not as upright a bike as Mr. Ding wanted – his wrists are having a harder and harder time with his hybrid.    Overall we wanted something solid that could haul a heavy rider as well as lots of cargo,  allow a disabled rider to ride in the back, tow a kid’s bike, and not be too expensive. Then someone reminded us that J.C. Lind Bike Company here in Chicago was now carrying Yuba Mundos! Ding Ding!

The blue Yuba after Mr. Ding's rainy test ride

 

We stopped by the bike store on Wells street on a rainy Saturday afternoon and checked out some of the bikes in the store and Mr. Ding headed out for an initial test ride.

Mr. Ding takes a Yuba Mundo out for a test ride while the Van Moof bike looks on

 

The Yuba is 6ft 9 inches long – not your standard-length bike.  A steel bike made to haul 440 lbs of cargo plus a rider, it is the strongest in terms of the load it can carry,  of all the longtail cargo bikes.  The rear rack can hold 2 child seats, along with grocery bags on each side.   Here’s one in the store configured with two different kinds of child seats for riders of different ages.

 

Don't Miss Earth Day Family Fun at The Green Metropolis Fair

The Green Metropolis Fair, an all-day fair for conscious living and eco-curious minded families will take place Saturday at The Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago from 10 a.m to 4 p.m.

The event is sponsored by Mindful Live!, the Mindful Metropolis magazine community event series and Green Parents Network, the online network "where green families meet" based in Chicago.

Workshops and presentations on eco living will be offered as well as hands-on family activities. Local, sustainable food and drinks will be available for purchase. A green marketplace will highlight the latest in eco living products and services available throughout Chicagoland and the Midwest. 

Admission to the fair is free, a non-perishable food donation is requested. All ages are welcome.