Raising Funds, Raising Awareness: Bike-A-Thon

Group of bicyclists at the Bike-A-Thon, 1977

On April 23, 1972, Ann Arbor citizens young and old tuned up their bicycles to take part in the Ecology Center's first ever BIke-A-Thon. Co-sponsored by ENACT and the Ann Arbor Bicycle League (AABL), the Bike-A-Thon was a fundraiser intended to "obtain funds for further environmental activity, to promote forms of non-polluting transportation, and to get bike freaks together to have some fun." Nearly five-hundred riders participated in 1972, collecting donations from their neighbors, family members, and colleagues along the way.