The Fort Atkinson Tourism Commission has announced the formation of a Community Bicycling Committee.
The committee was formed after the city’s tourism commission, earlier this year, joined the Wisconsin Bike Fed community through a membership plan at a cost of $2,500, according to information released Tuesday by the commission.
Through the membership and the newly formed committee, the commission plans to facilitate efforts to increase opportunities for bicyclists in Fort Atkinson, the release stated.
The first meeting of the committee was held Saturday at Cafe Carpe in Fort Atkinson. Among meeting attendees was Wisconsin Bike Fed representative Michelle Bachaus.
According to the release, Bachaus discussed the “five ‘E’s” of being a Bike Friendly Community: Engineering; Education; Encouragement; Evaluation and Planning, and Equity and Accessibility.
During the meeting, committee members developed a list of goals, including:
• Completing the application to become an official “Bike Friendly Community.” The release noted that benefits brought by the designation would include opportunities to bring community awareness to concepts associated with becoming a bike-friendly community, along with increased opportunities to receive concept-related grants.
• Maintaining bike trails and paths.
• Installing bike racks and bike repair stations.
• Increasing the number of youth and adult biking activities and opportunities for education offered within the city.
• Installing bike-related signage.
• Increasing parking opportunities for bikes, especially near establishments offering outdoor dining opportunities.
• Marketing Fort Atkinson to out-of-town guests as an outdoor getaway.
Advantages of outdoor recreation
According to the release, the bike-friendly concept stems from a report published in 2020 by the Wisconsin Office of Outdoor Recreation.
According to its website, the Outdoor Recreation advisory committee is a non-statutory committee of the Wisconsin Council on Tourism, formed to market Wisconsin “as one of America’s premier travel destinations.”
Highlights from the report, as reported by Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) in 2020, indicate that opportunities deriving from outdoor recreation bring some $7.8 billion into the state’s economy.
According to information reported through WPR, the COVID-19 pandemic brought people across America outside. In Wisconsin, according to WPR, there was a “spike in demand for bikes and hiking trails, fishing licenses and state park admissions.” The full WPR story is here: https://www.wpr.org/report-outdoor-recreation-worth-7-8b-wisconsin-economy.
Fort Atkinson Tourism Manager Holly Tierney stated within Tuesday’s release that in the aftermath of the pandemic, people are still venturing outside.
“Many are still enjoying the habits that were formed then,” she said.
She saw an advantage in Fort Atkinson’s proximity to Madison, which, she noted, has been recognized as the most bike-friendly community in the nation.
“Bringing these travelers and others from neighboring cities here to our community makes sense and is a high priority of Fort (Atkinson) tourism going forward,” she said within the release.
Among assets when marketing Fort Atkinson as a bike-friendly community, she listed the Rock and Bark rivers, Lake Koshkonong, and Fort Atkinson’s bike path and parks, calling them “a powerful way to draw in overnight tourists from Madison, Milwaukee, Rockford and Chicago.”
To learn more about advantages associated with Wisconsin Bike Fed membership, visit the organization’s website: https://wisconsinbikefed.org.
To learn more about or join the committee, contact Tierney by email: tourism@fortchamber.com.
Fort Atkinson area resident Jason Lynk, at left, contributes to a discussion held Saturday to make Fort Atkinson more bike-friendly. The discussion was part of an initial meeting held by a new Community Bicycling Committee formed by the Fort Atkinson Tourism Commission.
Some 16 members of a newly formed committee to increase opportunities for bicyclists gather at Cafe Carpe in Fort Atkinson. The first meeting of the committee was held Saturday. Contributed photos.
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