On any given day in the North Penn area, especially in the summer, there are local events ranging from festivals, to music and farmers markets. At these events car parking is often a challenge and some number of residents choose to walk or ride their bikes. Events in Lansdale, thanks to the completed sections of the Liberty Bell Trail, are very easy to walk/ride to from the southeast corner of the borough.

However, to make biking to these events truly convenient, people need to have some place to leave their bike, rather than walk around with it and probably bashing their bike pedals into the ankles of other attendees. The problem is there rarely a good place to lock up bikes which is both convenient and does not expose to the bike to possible theft.

After some thinking about this, Bike North Penn members Dom and Rena Frascella took it upon themselves to organize a FREE bike valet service, for both the Lansdale First Friday events in downtown and the Tuesday night Whites Rd. Park music programs. So you are asking, “what is bike valet?”

In this case it is a fenced in area near the event, with simple bike racks. The area is staffed with at least two volunteers who receive bikes from in-bound riders and fetch the bikes when riders are ready to head out. Each rider is given a ticket with an ID number when dropping off their bike, This ticket is required to collect their bike when they are ready to go.

And it is as simple as that. All they ask is that bikes are collected by their owners no later than the end of the main program times for these events. For Lansdale First Friday’s, that’s 9 PM and for the Whites Rd. music programs, usually about 8:30 or when the music stops.

Again, this is a free service, it is done with support from Doylestown Bike Works (where Dom and Rena work bicycle magic) and by The Partnership TMA Montgomery County as part of their Bike More / Drive Less program. 

We are interested to see how bike ridership may increase at these events as awareness of the bike valet service rises. This is a volunteer-heavy activity. If you have an interest in helping out any upcoming events or helping expand this service to other events, stop by and talk to us about it.