We capped registration, then pushed the cap, then pushed it some more. An event we thought would reach 100+ participants came to 185 and then some (we may have missed counting a few at the legislative reception Monday night). Thanks to Corey Burger of Victoria, BC, it even became an international summit (an element we’d love to see grow next year).
A few statistics tell one kind of story about the Washington Bike Summit.
Towns represented: 48.
Aberdeen, Anacortes, Auburn, Bellevue, Bellingham, Bremerton, Burien, College Place, Denver, Dixie, East Wenatchee, Edmonds, Everett, Fife, Hood River, Kenmore, Kent, Kirkland, Lacey, Lake Tapps, Lakewood, Lynnwood, Mead, Oak Harbor, Olympia, Port Angeles, Port Orchard, Portland, OR, Pullman, Puyallup, Redmond, Renton, San Diego, CA, Seattle, Sequim, Shoreline, Silverdale, Snohomish, Spokane, Tacoma, Tumwater, Union Gap, University Place, Vancouver, Victoria BC, Wenatchee, Winthrop, Yakima. (Boldface cities/towns are Bicycle Friendly Communities)
Number of Bicycle-Friendly Communities represented: 11 out of 14 in the state. At the legislative reception Monday night Steve Durrant of Alta Planning + Design, a member of the League of American Bicyclists board, spoke about the Bicycle Friendly America program and encouraged attendees to work for their communities to submit applications. We look forward to welcoming additional towns to the list of Bicycle Friendly Communities in Washington, the #1 Bicycle Friendly State in America.
Types of businesses and organizations represented:
Bike manufacturing, bike shops, bike clubs, bike nonprofits, design/planning engineering firms, cities, local elected officials, Chambers of Commerce, federal agencies, pedestrian advocates, trails organizations, public health districts, health foundations, transit, neighborhood organizations, metropolitan planning organizations, regional transportation planning organizations, WSDOT, colleges/universities, Washington State Dept. of Health, local agencies including streets, public works, planning, and economic development.
Percentage of attendees not from Seattle: 71.3% (we reported a slightly higher number the week before the registration closed; Seattle supplied several of the final registrations processed).
Why do we track and report this? Given the population distribution in the state it would be easy to hold a sold-out conference with 100% Seattleites. That wouldn’t represent our statewide mission.
Speakers: Every speaker and every session gave people ideas, information, and inspiration to take back to their hometowns. A special thank-you to everyone listed on our agenda for sharing your stories.
Samantha Ollinger Exc Dir Bike San Diego #WABikeSummit @ollingers @BikeSD – Inspiring story, keep making it happen! pic.twitter.com/V7zE0lFrJQ
— Carl Tully (@CarlTully) March 17, 2015
Martha Roskowski of People for Bikes and Samantha Ollinger of Bike San Diego deserve special thanks for their inspiring remarks in keynote addresses, along with Patty Graf-Hoke of Visit Kitsap, Joe Brown of Methow Cycle and Sport, and George Bergner of Port Angeles Likes Bikes and Olympic Peninsula Likes Bikes of our panel on the economic power of bike tourism.
Martha from @peopleforbikes busting myths about “who rides?” with brand new data. #WABikeSummit pic.twitter.com/Y7QyJeflpq — Downtown On the Go (@DowntownOntheGo) March 16, 2015
@methowjoebrown , Patty Graf-Hoke & George Bergner talk economic power of bike tourism on communities #WABikeSummit pic.twitter.com/BrqagSYCWu — Carl Tully (@CarlTully) March 17, 2015
Washington State DOT Sec. Lynn Peterson spent a Monday coffee break with attendees, showcasing the new poster that tells all WSDOT staff it’s time to build innovative new bike infrastructure.
@LynnPetersonWA to WSDOT engineers: you are allowed to use innovative bike facilities, please do it. #WABikeSummit
— Justin Resnick (@JustinResnickFP) March 16, 2015
@LynnPetersonWA presenting gr8 momentum for WA State #WABikeSummit – be innovative is the goal – make it so! pic.twitter.com/DTIGX3b1qH
— Carl Tully (@CarlTully) March 16, 2015
Official from @WSDOT: all the ways you can build bike facilities & why you should. @lynnpetersonwa #WABikeSummit pic.twitter.com/YSP7fq1Z4o
— Washington Bikes (@WAbikes) March 16, 2015
Number of people receiving training in the NACTO Urban Bikeways Design Guide: 54. Offering professional workshops drew a large number of professionals to the conference where they could rub elbows with the advocates who attend community hearings and provide input on bike master plan updates — a great mix for future improvements on our streets.
Legislative reception: Special thanks to Rep. Joan McBride of Kirkland, a former member of the Washington Bikes board, Sen. Curtis King of Yakima, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, and Washington Transportation Commissioner Joe Tortorelli, Spokane, for their participation in our reception.
At #WABikeSummit: @WSDOT Sec @LynnPetersonWA, Transportation Commissioner Joe Tortorelli, our ED @barbchamberlain pic.twitter.com/YQXDs0bB0Q
— Washington Bikes (@WAbikes) March 17, 2015
Transportation Advocacy Day: Many people met with their legislators on Day Two of the Summit, reluctantly breaking away from workshops but eager to talk with their legislators about the value of investing in safe and complete connected infrastructure.
.@BlakeTrask from @WAbikes updates the #WABikeSummit ground on bike stuff in the 2015 legislature. pic.twitter.com/KtkKdVOJae
— Seattle Bike Blog (@seabikeblog) March 17, 2015
By George! It’s the @37Dems waiting to meet their legislators #WABikeSummit @KevinBLugo Phyllis @bikeworks206 pic.twitter.com/hq8kVBQzC7 — Seattle Greenways (@SNGreenways) March 17, 2015
Added bonus for local color: A movie shoot with zombies.
It’s Z-Day in Olympia today. A touch of color during ordinarily black suits @WAbikes #WABikeSummit. pic.twitter.com/zCKDaSn3Mu — Seattle Greenways (@SNGreenways) March 17, 2015
Sponsors: We have to give another big thank-you to our sponsors, who made it possible for us to bring together such a great line-up of speakers.
- Platinum Bike: Cascade Bicycle Club, Group Health
- Gold Wheel: WSDOT
- Silver Spoke: Raleigh, People for Bikes
- Bronze Gear: Alta Planning, Foundation for Healthy Generations, Mithun, Ortleib, REI, SRAM, Transpo Group
Last word: We’ll give the last word to Kyla and Josef Forsberg of Lake Tapps, owners of the Green River Cyclery and Busted Bike Cafe in Auburn. As they prepared to depart they both said, “We’ll be at this every year!”
Cheers to the 1st annual #WABikeSummit pic.twitter.com/2wlS4gNEZa
— Kyla (@metal_bikechick) March 18, 2015
The tweets tell the story another way:
Washington Bike Summit 2015 Sponsors
Special thanks to Platinum sponsors Cascade Bicycle Club and Group Health Cooperative, whose early sponsorship made the Summit possible.
Please help us thank our sponsors in social media. When you follow or fan, let them know you appreciate their support of the Washington Bike Summit, #WABikeSummit.
Sponsored by:
Platinum Bicycle:
Twitter: @cascadebicycle Twitter: @grouphealth
Cascade on Facebook Group Health on Facebook
Gold Wheel:
Twitter: @WSDOT
WSDOT on Facebook
Silver Spoke:
Twitter: @RaleighBicycles Twitter: @PeopleforBikes
Raleigh Bicycles on Facebook People for Bikes on Facebook
Bronze Gear:
Twitter: @REI | REI on Facebook
Twitter: @SRAMroad | SRAM on Facebook
Twitter: @Mithun_Design
Twitter: @altaplanning | Alta Planning on Facebook
Twitter: @fdnhealthygen | Foundation for Healthy Generations on Facebook
Twitter: @TranspoGroup | Transpo Group on Facebook
Twitter: @OrtliebUSA