Recently, the League of American Bicyclists recognized nine Fitchburg businesses and non-profits with Bicycle Friendly Business (BFB) awards, earning them a place alongside over 1,500 businesses across the country contributing to the movement to build a more Bicycle Friendly America. The Fitchburg awardees were:
- Wheel & Sprocket, Platinum, bicycle shop
- Adesys, Silver, information technology services
- Fitchburg Chamber Visitor + Business Bureau, Silver, Fitchburg’s chamber of commerce
- KL Engineering, Silver, transportation engineering
- Oasis Café, Bronze, coffee shop
- SHINE Technologies, Bronze, research and manufacturing
- Boys and Girls Clubs of Dane County Allied Family Center, Bronze, youth organization
- Delta Beer Lab, Bronze, brewery
- Saris, Bronze, research and manufacturing
All Fitchburg awardees are new to the Bicycle Friendly America program. The nine applications from Fitchburg tied Arkansas as the most from any state in the summer award cycle.
“These awards are a testament to what we have built the Bicycle Friendly America program as well as our ‘Drive Less, Bike More’ challenge around: people want to work at, live in and visit places where getting to every day destinations car-free is possible, and when they can, business is not only better — life is better for everyone,” said Bill Nesper, executive director of the League of American Bicyclists. “The Fitchburg awardees and Bicycle Friendly Businesses like them are pushing back on car-dependency by helping bike commuters, both in their staff and in their surrounding communities, choose cycling more, and the League is proud to honor that commitment.”
The Fitchburg organizations join a total of 1,527 current BFBs nationwide, including government agencies, Fortune 500 companies, bike shops, and other employers, all united in a commitment to transform American workplaces to be more welcoming to both customers and employees who bike. The Bicycle Friendly Business award recognizes an organization’s contributions in shifting up and accelerating the movement to build a Bicycle Friendly America for everyone. Fitchburg’s new Bicycle Friendly Businesses join three existing BFB’s in the City, Griessmeyer Law (Gold), Race Day Events (Silver), and Fitchburg Family Pharmacy (Bronze), and many more around Dane County. Wisconsin now has 50 Bicycle Friendly Businesses.
“Bicycle Friendly Businesses like those in Fitchburg give people the peace of mind that they can bike to work, school, or their daily errands and feel welcomed,” said Nesper. “When more people can drive less, bike more to more destinations, it doesn’t just impact the people who work or shop there. It cultivates stronger, healthier, pedal-powered communities, and these BFBs recognize that and are putting in the work to make bicycling a real transportation and recreation option for all people to turn to.”
New Bronze-level Oasis Café is a hightraffic retail business with busy breakfast and lunch hours and folks working and hanging out all day. “Since we established a bicycle information center in our literature area this summer, we’ve distributed hundreds of Dane County and Fitchburg bike maps,” reports Kim Schwoerer, coowner and general manager. “It reminds customers that the café is a great place to start or end a ride, and that they’re welcome here, no matter how they arrive.”
KL Engineering is honored to receive the silver designation as a Bicycle Friendly Business,” said Kim Lobdell, CEO. “As a proud member of the Fitchburg community, we appreciate the work Fitchburg has done to encourage safe, multi-modal transportation for all users, and the opportunity to provide multi-modal path designs in Fitchburg and state-wide. This designation reflects our company culture of promoting healthy lifestyle choices, including biking to work.”
“We’re working to create a safer, healthier, cleaner world, so biking naturally fits right in at SHINE,” said Jess Giffey, general manager of systems and manufacturing at SHINE. “We have several employees that enjoy biking to work at our Fitchburg facility.” When building their new facility in the trail-rich Uptown neighborhood, SHINE welcomed their 110 employees with thirty stalls of bike parking. To introduce themselves to the community, SHINE co-sponsored the Chamber’s annual Bike the ‘Burg challenge and invited the public to a bike tour of the city.
“I’m thrilled that so many Fitchburg businesses were recognized. Biking is a critical part of our identity as a city government and as residents,” observed Aaron Richardson, Mayor of Fitchburg. “I look forward to more of our businesses being recognized for their support of biking. Please join me in supporting all of our Bicycle Friendly Businesses.”
As part of the BFB network, the new awardees will have access to a variety of tools and technical assistance from the League to become even more welcoming to people who bike. To learn more about the BFB program or apply, visit the League at https://bikeleague.org/business.
For assistance in implementing bike-friendly strategies or applying to be a BFB, reach out to Bike Fitchburg at https://bikefitchburg.org.