Bike Rodeo Returns to Keene's Crossing Elementary
Embracing Walkable Schools and Encouraging Bike Safety
New Suburbanism was alive and well at Keene’s Crossing Elementary’s 3rd Bike Rodeo held on Aug 27, 2022. About 150 students from Horizon West families participated in the event aimed at encouraging students to safely walk and bike to school. Residents brought their bikes for safety checks and tune-ups from Trek Bicycle of Winter Garden and received free helmet fittings from Bike/Walk of Central Florida, which also offered free replacement helmets, a terrific benefit for the students and their families.
A biking course was set up for children to learn and practice safe biking skills. In addition, all students attending the event were given a raffle ticket for a chance to win 1 of 4 bikes, donated by local businesses Horizon West Happenings and Shelley Dawson REALTOR® ReMax Prime Properties and Keene's Crossing Elementary PTO.
The Bike Rodeo was launched in 2018 summer by Maridith Damico and David Sibila - both KCE parents and PTO Board Members at the time. Maridith and David are both active in the Horizon West community and passionate about embracing and encouraging healthy lifestyle choices as well as creating solutions for an overflow of traffic through their neighborhood. They created the Bike Rodeo as a fun opportunity for community members to participate and learn about bike safety so that families have a safe alternative to the car line.
By holding the event early in the school year, organizers find that the event rallies people together, introduces safe practices and allows residents the chance to get to know other walking and biking families, which fosters relationships that can make the experience even more fun!
Walkable Schools are a key part of the Horizon West master plan. Our community was designed with schools integrated into the villages so that residents can walk or bike more often rather than always commuting by car. The design offers residents several benefits:
Enjoy a Healthy Lifestyle
Walking and biking to school means our kids are getting out of the house and being active during the day. With increasingly hectic schedules, demanding expectations and a rise in screen time, physical activity is crucial to overall health and well-being. Parents can help foster healthy lifestyle habits by embracing walkable schools with their child.
Reduce Neighborhood Traffic
A rapidly growing community like ours has its challenges, one of which is an influx of traffic while roadways catch up. Horizon West is one of the fastest-growing communities in the nation. As new residents continue to arrive to share in the lifestyle that brought each of us here, traffic continues to rise too. We can help reduce traffic by embracing our walkable schools! Biking and walking to school is a stress-reducing and environmentally friendly alternative to hopping in our vehicles.
Build Relationships and Sense of Community
Walking to school with friends, neighbors and family members carves out precious time every morning and afternoon to spend with people we care about. Slowing down long enough to enjoy each other’s company allows our relationships to thrive and conversations with our kids to increase. We learn more about our neighbors and surrounding residents and our sense of community grows even stronger, too. Rather than rushing out the door into a line of traffic, we have the unique opportunity to take in our surroundings, relax and renew our energy for ourselves and each other.
So You’re Ready to Walk or Bike to School? Great!
We look forward to seeing a growing number of families taking advantage of our unique lifestyle afforded by Horizon West’s master-planned design!
But…. now what? How do you get your neighborhood and/or school on board? If you would like to create a similar event for your child’s school or in your neighborhood, we encourage you to email KCE PTO for more info.
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