Elks Bike Rodeo included newspaper toss

For some, it was their first rodeo. And for the others, it might well have been the best.

The 2021 Mount Vernon Elks Lodge Bike Rodeo, on Sept. 12 meshed with the grand opening of the new Little Mountain bike trails, a festive occasion years in the making.

Despite rainy conditions, there was a good turnout of children and parents for the rodeo, which taught kids cycling skills like checking the air in their tires and how to use hand signals in traffic.

They also had the opportunity to ride over and around obstacles and practice delivering the Weekly News and other newspapers.

The youngest rider was a two-year-old from Burlington, said Elks Lodge bookkeeper and Pleasant Ridge resident Debbie Denton.

“He took the trails so fast,” she told the Weekly News, “that his mom had to run to keep up.”

Denton said the Mount Vernon Parks Foundation worked several years to put the trails in at Little Mountain. A special ribbon-cutting ceremony and the bike rodeo helped highlight the grand opening.

The rodeo, said Denton, was part of a major Elks Lodge emphasis program that so far this year has spearheaded the collection and refurbishment of 139 donated bicycles that have been gifted both to area children and adults often in need of specialized bikes.

The lodge is helping meet a surging demand, she said, which includes persons who use bicycles as their primary mode of transportation. The Elks have done private fundraising and received a $5,500 grant to undertake the project.

“There have been several requests we haven’t (yet) been able to fulfill,” Denton said.

“One La Conner lady gave us a bike and a bike trailer,” she added. “The trailer went to a lady who needed it for her service dogs.”

Along with the bikes, Denton said Elks members have distributed bicycle lights, helmets and locks.

“I had no idea how much charity work the Elks do for the community,” Denton told the Weekly News earlier this summer, “until I started working for them in September (of 2020).”