Great Barrington – Some people like to ride, some like to fly, and some like to do both.
This Saturday, cycling and aviation enthusiasts, and anyone looking for a nice day out in the Berkshires — perhaps even a balloon ride – will gather, all while raising money for education.
The Great Barrington Airport and the Great Barrington Rotary Club will host the 2nd annual Bike-N-Fly, grown from the original Fly-In that started four years ago. The day begins with a bike ride, and ends with food, live music, demonstrations, and bi-plane rides, to name only a few.
There will be, of course, many seriously good-looking airplanes showing off.
The event will also show what Rotary can do to raise money for education, its “primary focus,” said Great Barrington Rotary member and event committee chairman Richard Stanley.
In addition to an assortment of winged aircraft, a helicopter or two, fly-bys, and a noncompetitive bike ride, the Rotary Club’s Bike-N-Fly will also offer an opportunity to lift off in a hot-air balloon.
It was member John Benedict, a “riding enthusiast,” said Stanley, who came up with idea to add a bike ride to the original Fly-In, and that was when “the light bulb went off” for Stanley to grow the event. Everyone had so much fun last year, he said, that they just had to do it again.
Fun wasn’t all they had. Last year’s Bike-N-Fly raised $12,000 to $15,000 for Rotary’s education mission, said Stanley, and they hope to raise more on Saturday. This past Spring Rotary awarded $40,000 in scholarships to South County high school and college students, he added. Over the years, the Great Barrington Rotary has awarded over $700,000 in scholarships.
The Great Barrington Airport donates its facility to the event every year, and, said Stanley, is a generous and important part of the community “that people don’t realize,” noting that when someone needs an airlift from Great Barrington’s Fairview Hospital to Albany or Boston, the airport is the only place for LIFE STAR medical helicopters to land.
The non-competitive bike ride will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, with a loop back to the airport for festivities. A “scenic outing” is how Stanley described it, and added that riders can choose a 20-, 35-, or 50-mile ride. The event itself runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a rain date of Sunday, August 17.
At last year’s event, a pilot flew in to the airport, took his bike off the plane and went for a ride, said Stanley, showing that there are some people who really do like to Bike-N-Fly.
In addition to aircraft – large and small – there will be live entertainment as well, Stanley noted. The music acts include Moonshine Holler, Emily Mure, Christine Dellea, and Sandy and Sandy.
To register for Saturday’s bike ride, or to learn more, go to berkshirebikenfly.org.
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