Getting on board the Fruit Bicycle
There’s this little, but crucial, thing happening in Howard County and it’s called the Fruit Bicycle.
It comes in the shape of a pedal-powered organic fruit cart that provides healthy snacks to folks in Howard County and promotes a healthy lifestyle. The Fruit Bicycle wheels about in Columbia’s open space areas and so far the reaction to having healthy snacks on hand is pretty good.
Luda Bard, who runs the bike, says: ‘Reactions to this healthy and exciting deviation from the typical ice cream truck, have been amazing. People like that it’s different and our mission with the fruit bicycle is to create an environmentally friendly means of providing healthy organic fruit snacks.’
Run by a Columbia family of five that loves to hop on their bikes and ride the pathways to the farmers’ market, the library, or to the lake for an evening concert, Luda decided to make their family choices into public choices too.
She says: ‘When we got to our destination, we pulled out some snacks and, because some of our kids have food allergies, that means fruit. At one evening concert, we were all munching on apples, when someone sitting next to us jokingly asked if we had brought enough for everyone. We thought: “Why not bring enough for everyone?” So, the fruit bicycle was born.
‘We have built our bicycle for carrying loads of fruit to cruise the Howard County pathways and concert venues, bringing fun and healthy snacks to everyone.’
The Fruit Bicycle seeks to educate Columbia residents and guests about a healthy lifestyle. They are planning to arrange local school visits to show off the Fruit Bicycle and talk to children about health and fitness.
This is all such good news in a time when kids are eating ice creams by the pool, feasting on sugary snacks and soda. All hail the fruit bicycle!
For more information, see here. And check out the Facebook page and Twitter #FruitBicycle
Claire Bolden McGill is a British expat who lived in Maryland for three years and moved back to the UK in August 2015. Claire wrote about her life as a British expat on the East Coast and now works in travel and hospitality PR in the UK. She still finds time to blog about her repatriation and the reverse culture shock that ensued – and she still hasn’t finished that novel, but she’s working on it. You can contact Claire via twitter on @clairebmcgill or via her blog From America to England.