2nd Annual Bike Rodeo At Keene's Crossing Elementary 

New Suburbanism was alive and well this weekend at the Keene’s Crossing Elementary 2nd Annual Bike Rodeo. Dozens of Horizon West families showed up Saturday morning to participate in the event, aimed at encouraging students to walk and bike to school. Residents brought their bikes for safety checks and tune-ups from Winter Garden Wheel Works and received free helmet fittings from OCFL. A biking course was set up for children to learn and practice safe biking skills. In addition, all students attending the event were given a raffle ticket for a chance to win 1 of 4 bikes, donated by local businesses, Horizon West Happenings, Citrus Church, Scoops N Smiles, and Keene's Crossing Elementary.

The Bike Rodeo was launched last summer by Maridith Cavanaugh and David Sibila- both KCE parents and PTO Board Members. Maridith and David are both active in the Horizon West community and passionate about embracing and encouraging healthy lifestyle choices and creating solutions for an overflow of traffic through their neighborhood. They created the Bike Rodeo as a fun opportunity for community members to participate and learn about bike safety so that families have a safe alternative to the car line

Walkable Schools are a key part of the Horizon West master plan. Our community was designed with schools integrated into the villages so that residents have the opportunity to walk or bike more often rather than always commuting by car. The design offers residents and array of benefits.

Healthy Lifestyle

Walking and biking to school means our kids are getting out of the house and being active during the day. With increasingly hectic schedules, demanding expectations and an increase in screen time, physical activity is crucial to overall health and well-being. We, as parents, can help foster healthy lifestyle habits by embracing walkable schools. We can even coordinate with our neighbors and friends and partner together around work schedules or extracurricular commitments.

Reduce Traffic

A rapidly growing community has its challenges, one of which is an influx of traffic while thruways catch up. Horizon West is the third fastest growing community in the nation. As new residents continue to arrive to share in the lifestyle that brought each of us here, traffic continues to rise. We can however help reduce traffic by embracing our walkable schools! Biking and walking to school are a stress-reducing and environmentally friendly alternative to hopping in our vehicles.

Build Relationships

Walking to school with friends, neighbors and family members carves out precious time every morning and afternoon to spend time with people we care about. Slowing down long enough to enjoy each other’s company allows our relationships to thrive and conversations with our kids to increase. We learn more about our neighbors and surrounding residents and our sense of community grows even stronger. Rather than rushing out the door into a line of traffic, we have the unique opportunity to take in our surroundings, relax and renew our energy for ourselves and each other.

So you’re in? Great!

But….now what? How do you get your neighborhood and/or school on board? PTO parents at Keene’s Crossing created the Bike Rodeo to do exactly that. Holding the event prior to the first day of school rallies people together, introduces safe practices and allows residents the chance to get to know other walking and biking families to foster relationships that can make the experience even more fun! If you would like to create a similar event for your child’s school or in your neighborhood, we encourage you to email kceptopres@gmail.com for more info.

Drop the kids off at school, grab a seat at the park over some coffee and create a plan to encourage the Walkable School concept in your neighborhood, with your tribe. This is your chance to create what you want to be a part of and be the bridge to a healthy Horizon West lifestyle.