BENTONVILLE — As Walmart shareholders and employees from around the world prepare to jet or drive to Bentonville for the annual meeting next week, Walmart will share with the community its love for another mode of transportation — biking.
Walmart’s Walton Life Fitness Center and Bike Bentonville will host a Bike Extravaganza from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot of the Sam Walton Development Complex. The event will include guided trail rides, performances from a BMX stunt team and a bike safety course, said Barb O’Connor, fitness center director.
“We want to promote cycling safety and the use of the trails,” O’Connor said. “For the people that are out there riding, we want them to be safe. For those that aren’t out there yet, we want them to get out there.”
At A Glance
Bike Extravaganza
The Bike Extravaganza will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot of the Sam Walton Development Complex, 2001 S.E. 10th St.
Source: Staff Report
Walmart has made an effort to get its own employees cycling with its BikeShare program that started last May. Employees can check out one of about 100 blue cruiser bikes and ride them to and from meetings or out to lunch.
The bikes will be available Saturday for residents who want to ride, but don’t have their own bike, O’Connor said. She asks that people bring their own bicycles if they can, along with helmets and “an attitude to have some fun.”
The Bentonville Parks and Recreation Department will have bikes for rent at its Downtown Activity Center for those who want to play on the trails all day. The public also can demo bikes provided by Walmart vendors at the event.
The guided trail rides will take participants along the city’s paved trail system, weaving by the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Walmart Home Office, O’Connor said. The first ride will start at 9:30 a.m., and rides will continue throughout the day. They will vary from about one mile to six miles, said Alan Ley, director of Bike Bentonville.
Mongoose’s BMX national stunt team will perform three shows throughout the morning and sign autographs from 12:30 to 1 p.m. Team members will provide cycling tips to those interested in the gravity-defying world of BMX.
The event will highlight an activity that is fast become part of the fabric of the Bentonville community, Ley said.
“The bike culture here is growing,” Ley said. “We have the biggest retailer in the world feeling that it’s important for its employees to have easy access to bikes. They’re really helping expand the cycling culture here.”
Participation in cycling has increased in the city over the last three to five years with the construction of more than 20 miles of paved bike paths and dozens of miles of off-road trails, said David Wright, director of the Parks and Recreation Department. He said he has seen a “significant jump” in bicycling in Bentonville over the last several years.
The increase is across the board, expanding among competitive road cyclists, mountain bikers and recreational cyclists tooling around neighborhoods and on bike trails, he said.
“There has been an effort in our community from Walmart, the school district and the city to work separately but together to promote this as a lifelong activity, a wellness activity,” Wright said. “The benefits are certainly paying off.”