John Tudisco
By John Tudisco | Contributing Writer
Hello Concordia! I’m writing to you from your next door neighborhood of Woodlawn. Last year, the Woodlawn Neighborhood Association and I decided to host a communal bike ride to showcase the rich history of our part of Portland, and introduce some new people to the restaurants, shops, and everything else we have to offer. The ride was offered through a program called Pedalpalooza, and I’d like to invite you to this year’s event.
For those of you that don’t know, Pedalpalooza (also known as Bike Summer) is an annual, summer-long bike festival organized by community members that encourages Portlanders to get out and cycle in whatever ways they find enjoyable. There are many bike rides to take part in all over the greater Portland area. Over the years, I’ve had an awesome time at bike rides from a range of themes including cribbage, cider, and garden tours. The wide reach of the Pedalpalooza calendar led to an excellent turnout at last year’s history ride, so we’ve decided to bring it back for a second year.
At the event last year, we started in the Boise Neighborhood to highlight a few historic locations along N Mississippi Avenue, then, we headed north to listen to a history talk from the Friends of Peninsula Park Rose Garden. We concluded the ride in Woodlawn, where Anjala Ehebele (author of Images of America: Portland’s Woodlawn Neighborhood) engaged us all with her dramatic storytelling. By hosting our ride through Pedalpalooza, we reached a wide range of people from different parts of Portland.
This year we’ll take a slightly different route and learn about history provided by the Piedmont, Woodlawn, and Concordia Neighborhood Associations. This stretch of North and Northeast Portland boasts a particularly interesting collection of historic locations. The ride begins at Peninsula Park and ends at the Woodlawn Farmers Market, where Ehebele will join us once again. We will stop at historic sites you likely know, some you likely don’t know, and some that you’ve seen but didn’t realize had a rich history.
The ride will take place on Saturday, July 19th from 10 am to noon. We’ll meet under the gazebo at Peninsula Park. All ages and biking abilities are welcome, so please join me in what will be an exciting and informative event. To find up-to-date information on this bike ride and many others, visit the calendar at shift2bikes.org.
John Tudisco is a Civil Engineer and resident of the Woodlawn neighborhood. Originally from New York, John has lived in Portland for the last 6 years.