Wheelin’ and Dealin’ at Bike Fest: About 200 Children and Parents Attend Annual Allentown Event.

By Jeanne Bonner, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

May 7–In about a month, Soraya Figueroa will have her own bike.

The 11-year-old Central Elementary School student plans to ride to Jordan Park and maybe even the Lehigh Valley Mall.

Is she excited? Oh yeah, she said.

Soraya is enrolled in Community Bike Works, a nonprofit program that teaches children to shoulder responsibility and build skills by learning bike maintenance. By participating in the 13-week program, Soraya will earn her bike. She will also be able to repair bicycles, a skill that could earn her money.

As part of her Bike Works duties, Soraya was busy Saturday morning checking brakes and tightening bolts on two- and four-wheelers at Bike Fest 2006, an annual bike safety and maintenance seminar. The event, in its seventh year, included a safety course in which students weaved their bikes around plastic cones to improve coordination and reflexes.

The free three-hour event at South Mountain Middle School in Allentown attracted about 200 children and their parents, and the attention of “Teens on Q,” a program produced by Pittsburgh public television station WQED.

The youth news program focuses on career preparation, which coincides with Community Bike Works’ mission.

“It is, as we see it, a microcosm of greater personal development and career exploration outside of the classroom,” said Laura Seliy, a producer at WQED, in reference to Bike Works.

Seliy said the episode featuring Bike Fest will run locally on PBS-39, WLVT-TV later this year.

The television crew filmed Bike Fest volunteers as they checked and repaired bikes, and handed out bicycle helmets. Helmet safety is one of Bike Fest’s central safety messages.

Lt. Daryl Hendricks of the Allentown Police Department, which runs Bike Fest, said it’s tough to convey the necessity of wearing a helmet, particularly since the state no longer requires most motorcycle drivers to wear one.

“It’s peer pressure — kids don’t think it’s cool to wear a helmet,” Hendricks said.

Kayla Perez, 2, didn’t have to be told twice to wear her helmet, as she proudly sat atop her brand-new purple Schwinn with training wheels.

“This is her first time on a bike so we needed all the safety stuff,” said Kayla’s mom, Raquel, 39, of Allentown.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

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