Posts Tagged ‘Venture North’
Getting to know the neighborhood: An Update about Venture North Bike Walk Center
Monday, January 9th, 2012
The following is a post by Amber Collet, Bike Walk Twin Cities that first appeared on the Streets.mn blog last week.
I recently stopped by Venture North Bike Walk Center to chat with them about their first few weeks as a fully functioning bike-walk center and what they have in the plans for 2012.
Venture North Bike Walk Coffee on Glenwood Ave.
Venture North Bike Walk Center opened in North Minneapolis right before Thanksgiving in 2011 and offers a full range of services and programs relating to bicycling and community development.
“The response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Alicia Adams, Health and Program Outreach Coordinator. “People stop in just to say hi and thank us for being here.”
Venture North carries unique cycling accessories for all ages.
In addition to providing quality used bicycles at affordable prices and fashionable bicycling accessories, Venture North provides hands-on training to neighborhood youth through their Build a Bike program.
The 16-week Build-a-bike apprenticeship program provides a framework for community youth to learn basic bike repair and maintenance, sales, and customer service skills. Over the course of the program, apprentice mechanics attend two four-hour classes twice a week and then personally shadow the master mechanic to work on individual skills. Current apprentices are fixing up used bikes for the floor of the shop. As the program develops, apprentice mechanics will mentor younger students through the program and earn a free bike.
“We’re more than just a ‘bike shop,’ we provide a fully functioning service center, used bikes, and a community space,” said Casey Pavek, Service and Education Manager. “We fix all sorts of things!” Also, in January 2012, Dogwood Coffee will be opening a small coffee shop inside of Venture North. Coffee and bikes –a great way to build community space!
Venture North Bike Walk Center provides basic bicycle maintenance classes to the broader community and even a couples bike class to encourage people to ride together. Fridays are “Free Flat Fix Fridays at Five,” where community members can come learn the best ways to change a flat tire.
With the apprenticeship course and service center up and running, Venture North is looking towards providing additional programming in 2012. In early 2012, the Center will be hosting a series of events entitled “Dream Because You Can” to encourage all people in the community to give bicycling or walking a try. They will be releasing a video with information about Venture North, free workshops on Thursdays and Saturdays, and a group bike ride to check out new bicycling infrastructure in North Minneapolis and surrounding neighborhoods.
Venture North Bike Walk Center will celebrate warmer weather this spring with a Grand Opening–stay tuned for more details by following them on Facebook or Twitter!
Tags: bike shop North Minneapolis, Venture North, Venture North Bike Walk & Coffee
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Venture North Bike Walk & Coffee officially opens its doors
Friday, October 14th, 2011
On Saturday, a few hundred North Minneapolis residents gathered as Venture North Bike Walk & Coffee opened its doors. The bike shop, located at 1830 Glenwood Ave., will sell a full line of new and refurbished bikes, helmets, locks and other biking and walking accessories. What’s more, the shop will also be selling Dogwood Coffee in mid-November featuring its own “Venture North” blend.
The grand opening event on Saturday drew a big crowd and featured local leaders including Minneapolis City Council Members, Don Samuels, Diane Hofstede and Barbara Johnson; Rep. Bobby Joe Champion; Sen. Linda Higgins and a staff member from U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison’s office. These leaders helped usher in a new era of healthy choices in North Minneapolis. The event also featured music, dancing, face painting, Dogwood coffee, free flu shots, food and a host of other vendors and community partners.
At the same time, new bike lanes were opening on Emerson and Fremont Avenues, which will help make getting around North Minneapolis much easier.
We could go on about the Venture North grand opening in more detail but thought photos from the event would better tell the story.
Crews worked through the night on Friday night to get Venture North up-and-running. The storefront still needed a bit of paint Sat. morning!
Partner Dogwood Coffee was on hand selling coffee throughout the day.
Venture North was selling their full line of merchandise on order Saturday, including these helmets on site.
All kinds of people—and bikes—showed up to the Venture North Bike Walk & Coffee grand opening.
Venture North intern Jemarte Taylor was interviewed by multiple mainstream media outlets during the grand opening including KARE-11 and KSTP-TV.
The interior at Venture North came together nicely over Friday evening and early Saturday morning.
Face painting was a popular booth at the Venture North Bike Walk & Coffee grand opening.
Rep. Champion addressed the crowd before the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Reynolds-Anthony Harris, a key partner in the start-up phase of Venture North, helped kick things off Saturday.
The official cutting of the Venture North ribbon!
The completed front store front for Venture North Bike Walk & Coffee.
Tags: Bike Walk Move, Bike Walk Twin Cities, North Minneapolis bike shop, North Minneapolis bikes, Venture North, Venture North Bike Walk & Coffee
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