Wheeling through a week with the Coasters Camp
By Kim Whitney, Youth Program Manager
How did you spend your summers as a 6 year old? Through our Bike Camp program, kids as young as 6 get the opportunity to explore beyond their own backyards to see what Portland has to offer.
Coasters Camp is where our youngest campers experience 2-wheeled adventures. The camp is a week long and begins with setting expectations and going over the basics. After a morning of hands-on lessons about helmets, hand signals and riding safely as a group, we ride off to a nearby park. We visit new parks every day to do activities and play games. Through our camp, Coasters have an opportunity to learn from our community partners, such as Friends of Trees, a local non-profit whose mission is to bring people in the Portland-Vancouver and Eugene-Springfield metro areas together to plant and care for city trees and green spaces.
Whitney Dorer, Neighborhood Trees Manager at Friends of Trees, said: “…hanging out with the Coasters Camp is the best part of the week for Friends of Trees. Reading under the shade of the trees at Irving Park and befriending a tree starts the activity that we do with the Coasters Camp. We map out where our trees are in the park and get an up close look at the leaves and bark of different trees. Watching the kids make connections between biking and trees is incredible. I wouldn’t doubt that these kids will all be stewards of our environment in the future!”
Coasters camps fill up quickly, so be sure to sign up early. If you would like more details about our Coasters Camp, please visit our our Bike Camp webpage, or you can call us at 503-288-8864 for more information.
Learn more about Bike Camp on Saturdays in February & March!
If you are new to Bike Camp and would like to talk to someone in person about the best fit for your child, you can chat with a member of our Bike Camp team on Saturdays in February and March in our bike shop at 1700 NE Alberta Street. In shop registrations will only be available for a limited time on Saturdays and will be processed through our online system.