105 people biked all around Seattle Saturday buying food to donate to Rainier Valley Food Bank. Seattle’s fifth annual Cranksgiving delivered an astounding 1,201 pounds of food, all purchased from unique local food sellers and hauled by bicycle.
Big thanks to everyone who came out for the ride, and thanks to Rainier Valley Food Bank for all they do to help families put food on their tables. In the past week, RVFB has served 1,391 people, including a record-breaking day November 19. While need tends to peak around the holidays, RVFB serves people all year round. Learn more on their website if you are interested in helping out or volunteering.
Seattle Bike Blog has organized the Seattle Cranksgiving for the past five years, but similar rides also happen in more than 60 cities across the country. The idea continues to spread and grow, and this year the Today show hosts participated in a handful of cities. So maybe next year there will be even more Cranksgiving rides, especially in West Coast cities where efforts have been slower to get going than on the East Coast where it started in the late 90s.
Seattle’s Cranksgiving 2014 started at Gas Works Park and ended at the Royal Room in Columbia City. You can see the full manifest with the list of items, grocery sellers and other challenges riders had to complete on the bike ride scavenger hunt.
Big thanks to the Royal Room for being a great after party venue and providing coffee, drinks and food after a long day of biking. It was not rare for riders to go more than 25 miles during the course of the ride, all while carrying more and more groceries.
Thanks also to Verity Credit Union for sponsoring the event and to our prize sponsors: Detours, Swift Industries, Hub & Bespoke, Flying Lion Brewery, Family Bike Seattle, Bicycle Benefits, and Taking the Lane Media.
Below are some scenes from the ride. See you all next Cranksgiving!
#CranksgivingSEA #pikeplacemarket kale and squash. #bikehappy #seattle pic.twitter.com/x5mPSIFFya
— Kate Hotler (@KateLovesUX) November 22, 2014
The turkey @Babeland_Sea counts for #cranksgivingsea, right @seabikeblog? You didn't specify a food turkey… pic.twitter.com/3rul7CxPgD
— Marley Blonsky (@MarleyBlonsky) November 22, 2014
#CranksgivingSEA pic.twitter.com/TmE8niPawH
— tara corbridge (@TaraCorb) November 22, 2014
2nd try. Tiniest protected bike lane. #CranksgivingSEA #SEAbikes #selfie pic.twitter.com/GHAPf0uLQU
— Geoff Brown (@ephectic) November 22, 2014
#CranksgivingSEA #jeffersonpark pic.twitter.com/nsz2yFJn1P
— Erinn J Hale (@erinnjhale) November 22, 2014
#CranksgivingSEA #ILoveBike pic.twitter.com/4EtfZUiLyz
— Erinn J Hale (@erinnjhale) November 22, 2014
I got a whole bunch of photos for #cranksgivingsea today too. #seabikes @seabikeblog @WAbikes https://t.co/w1YRihavmK
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) November 23, 2014
My 90 pix from #CranksgivingSEA today: https://t.co/LfcG8n4Bn7 Sooooo fun! #SEAbikes Thx for arranging such a wonderful event, @seabikeblog!
— Madi Carlson (@familyride) November 23, 2014
Washington Bikes also put some notes and photos from the ride together via Storify.
And, finally, here’s the manifest:
Comments
6 responses to “Cranksgiving 2014 riders haul 1,201 pounds of food to Rainier Valley Food Bank”
[…] got out 105 people, and we got out…113! Tom from excellent Seattle Bike Blog is shipping us the Top Banana trophy in a special temperature controlled, golden envelope and says […]
[…] the Seattle Bike Blog held its annual Cranksgiving, Seattle failed to achieve a platinum rating in The League of American Bicyclist’s […]
1201lbs is bogus as $%@. And quite honestly it’s wack for you to put up such an exact number of pounds donated when there wasn’t any way to determine that information. You can’t weigh food without a scale.
Overall the best things about this ride were the cause and the weather. The royal room wasn’t ready for us and the staff seemed a little peeved that they were open to serve the riders. I’d participate in this again if …
1. At least one or two people scoring the things acquired on the manifest (instead of trusting riders when there is incentive to lie)
2. an actual scale weighing the food donated
3. a beer or something like that for you at the end of the ride (not one that I have to buy myself. Or make it clear that I’d be buying my own at the Royal Room so that I could buy my own at one of the 7 stores I stopped at)
4. some challenge or activity at any of the stops would have made this more fun than a lame grocery run
5. don’t reward people doing a scavenger hunt if they don’t make the time. if the rules are flexible in that way then what are the point of the rules.
6. and your prizes were hella wack. Seriously seemed like you just grabbed stuff you had in your closet and called them prizes.
The weight total comes from the food bank.
I definitely didn’t have all that stuff in my closet.
[…] incredible 1,201 pounds of food to Rainier Valley Food Bank. For an idea of what to expect, check out our post after last year’s […]
[…] trophy in a special temperature controlled, golden envelope to ship it north (to Tom from the excellent Seattle Bike Blog). We did good and I’m proud as heck of Portland […]