The Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition (SVBC) and the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Metropolitan Planning Organization (HRMPO), in partnership with the City of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County will conduct the 2014 Harrisonburg & Rockingham Bike-Walk Summit from 8:00 am to 2:30 pm on October 10, 2014, on the James Madison University (JMU) campus.
Each year the Bike-Walk Summit brings together a broad range of partners who are working to make Harrisonburg and Rockingham County a great biking and walking community to live in and visit. This year the summit will focus on bicycle tourism and feature a keynote address from Ginny Sullivan, Director of Travel Initiatives for the Adventure Cycling Association.
Harrisonburg Vice-Mayor Charles Chenault talks about the value of the Summit: “Biking of all sorts has become a mainstay of our local tourism industry and again another major component for leading healthy lives. The Summit allows us to gain knowledge from our stakeholders as well as experts from outside our area to help us move forward by effectively leveraging our funds and keeping these pursuits as safe as possible.”
The JMU Bike and Pedestrian Committee and the Office of Community Service-Learning are event co-hosts.
The summit will begin with a social breakfast for attendees, and include a networking lunch. In addition to the keynote address on “The Benefits of Bicycling and Walking Tourism” from Ms. Sullivan there will be a welcome address from JMU President Jon Alger. A Year in Review presentation will showcase the many accomplishments related to bicycling and walking in the region in the past year. Throughout the day there will be interactive sessions with attendees that focus on assessing the bicycling and walking culture of the region, generating ideas for the community based on what we learn about bicycle and walking tourism, and developing priorities, setting goals, and planning to accomplish those goals. A summit social will follow at Ruby’s Lounge (Clementine Café Basement.)