Bicycle safety and theft prevention will be the main focus this Saturday at the West central Event Centre. The annual Kindersley Bike Rodeo will once again be taking place from 1 to 4 p.m. A free BBQ for those participating will be hosted and operated by the Fire Department with the food and condiments supplied by the Kindersley Co-op.
With the bike rodeo taking place for the first time in 3 years, Perry Lewin, with the Town of Kindersley explains the overall interest leading up to the day.
“Registrations are a little bit lower than I had hoped, and we're actually going to be opening up registrations again. We had closed them off, but we've got 30 youth that are going to be part of the early bird registration and will be put into a draw that we'll do at 2:00 o'clock on Saturday at the Bike Rodeo and we've had an additional 18 youth come after that who have signed up so, so we're at just under 50, which is a great number. I mean, it's the first event since 2019.”
The early bird prize is a 20-inch bike donated by Supreme Source for Sports.
Some paper registrations will be available on site at the Bike Rodeo for anyone who decides at the last minute they want to participate, Lewin adds, but would like as many as possible to take place online.
“We'd really like to know how many kids we have coming and make sure that we have the volunteers where we need them, so ideally, I do ask that the registrations come in online before, but of course we don't want to turn any kids away, so we'll always be welcoming.”
While ensuring youth are aware of bicycle safety, there will also be the opportunity to learn about Project 529.
Project 529 originated in Oregon and is a North American wide program to help with preventing bike loss and assist with returning stolen and lost bikes to the rightful owners. Lewin details what attendees at the bike rodeo will learn about with Project 529.
“The whole idea of it is, first off, having what's called the 529 shield on your bike which has been shown to deter bike thefts and then secondly having the bike registered with that continent wide, if a bike turns up whether it be in Victoria or in Halifax, or Kindersley or anywhere in between, the officers can run that serial number just like a VIN number on a car and see if it comes up stolen. We can then quickly reconnect the owner to their property.”
A station will be set up to help register your bikes, and some shields will also be given away. This is a rain or shine event and will be moved indoors in the event of inclement weather. All youth under the age of 12 must have a parent supervisor.
Sat, Apr 20, 8:30 AM
