Instead of a food drive, The Portland Encyclepedia, the Bicycle Coalition of Maine and Portland Gear Hub came together on Nov. 9 for a food ride. The event – part community bike ride, part food drive, part scavenger hunt – collected 454 pounds of food for the Westbrook Food Pantry to distribute to those in need during the Thanksgiving season.
“Portland has a nice, strong bicycle community, so it’s an opportunity to get together with a bicycle community, see some friends, do something good for somebody else and get a late season bike ride,” said Norman Patry of Summer Feet Cycling, who has organized the event for 10 years.
“We make it a really fun event,” he said. “Yeah, we just put a lot of effort in, in making it fun.”
In preparation for the event, Patry asks the Westbrook Food Pantry what is in demand that they are lacking and creates a corresponding list of food items for participants to track down across Portland. Upon receiving the list of items and locations at the start of the race, cyclists can plot their own path between the five specified food markets.
Cyclists zigzag across the city, buying canned vegetables at Trader Joe’s, peanut butter at Save A Lot and toothpaste at Hannaford Supermarket. Participants rode standard bikes, adaptive trikes, e-bikes and e-cargo bikes, and some wore costumes or fun accessories such as a turkey helmet.
“We do like to support independent businesses as much as possible. So, an obvious thing to get there (is) La Bodega Latina is kind of a Latin staple, so we get some beans. We usually do rice at the Veranda (Asian) Market because they know they’re going to have pallets and pallets of rice there,” said Patry.
After riders hit each store on the list, everyone gathered for an afterparty at Rising Tide Brewing Co. where the 400-plus pounds of food were collected. Prizes were awarded to those who completed the scavenger hunt the fastest and who gathered the most food. This year, there was also a special competition for who could buy the most rice, and someone won by rolling in with a 50-pound bag.
Cranksgiving is a national event, with 102 cycling communities across the U.S. organizing the scavenger hunts in support of food banks this year. The tradition was started in 1999 in New York City by bike messenger Antonio “Tone” Rodrigues, who saw how bike messengers competed for the title of fastest ride and decided to channel this spirit to help the less fortunate during the Thanksgiving holiday.
Patry hopes to continue the tradition of Cranksgiving in Portland. While the number of riders varies per year due to weather, he said it usually stays between 20-40 participants. His goal is to get 100 people riding for Portland’s Cranksgiving someday.
Westbrook Food Pantry is a volunteer-run nonprofit that serves the greater Westbrook region. Westbrook Food Pantry volunteer Nancy Crump said that the annual donations from Cranksgiving always have a large impact on what the pantry can distribute to those who are food insecure.
“Their contributions have been greatly appreciated, and they always come through with a huge quantity of food,” said Crump.
“They’re one of our biggest donors around Thanksgiving time, and it’s always nonperishable foods they collect. It’s good quality food,” she said.
The event also serves to support active transportation in Portland. Teams riding together on the road both strengthen the cycling community and increase the visibility of cyclists on the roads.
“Having 30 to 40 people cycling around Portland on a Saturday wearing silly costumes, and carrying tons of food on their backs, it’s good for visibility, getting people used to seeing people cycling throughout the city, and recognizing that it’s important to share the road, recognizing that it’s important to pay attention to the other road users and that they’re out there,” said Anne Marisic, the partnerships and communications manager at the Bicycle Coalition of Maine.
“It’s great because you’re supporting small businesses, you’re biking and having a fun, healthy, community-building activity. But it’s also good for what the Bicycle Coalition supports, which is creating great infrastructure within our state for biking, walking, rolling, whatever form of active transportation you’re using to get around,” said Marisic.
Alfred resident Kim Schutsky works at Summer Feet Cycling and has participated in Cranksgiving four times. This year, she was in a team of 11 cyclists that operated with an elected leader, sweep and navigator.
“It’s just a very different way to volunteer your time. And it’s exciting, it’s fun. You meet new people, you get to be active, and at the end of the day, you’re doing good for the community,” said Schutsky.
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