Wayne County Life

Photos by:  Robert Stopper

On Tuesday, members of the Lyons Heritage Society, Chamber of Commerce, Main Street Program, Trailworks, Inc. and several residents gathered to offer refreshments to the 500 cyclists that pedaled through town as part of the Cycling the Erie bike run.

Parks and Trails New York leads the "Cycling the Erie" bike event that is comprised of an 8 day, 400 mile ride from Lockport to Albany and tours the Erie Canal on various surfaces ranging from stone dust to pavement.  This run marks their 14th annual event.

Though Lyons is not a planned stop on the agenda, each year our community has set up tables with tourist information of Lyons, maps of area downtown restaurants and suggestions of historic places to visit.  

While they muse themselves with the historic Hotchkiss Building or the many murals in town, volunteers are on hand to provide interesting tidbits of our village.  One cyclist mentioned to his wife, "Who knew?  Who knew this little town had so much!"

To make the event more true to the purpose, an alternate route was established at the ECCC (Erie Canal Cultural Center) to allow cyclists to pedal along the Erie Canal and stop at the Winston Dobbins Park for ice water and much needed shade.  By allowing two rest stops, we were able to personally welcome over 400 bikers and accommodate any need they may have.  

The Hotchkiss Building and Ohmann Theatre were open for tours as well as the new Trail of Hope.   According to several of the bikers, Lyons is the best stop on the trail!

Each year the event becomes larger than the year before though we are now greeting repeat visitors who have come to love our community as much as we do. A handful of our cyclists specifically stopped in to visit Peppermint Patty (Patty Alena) and purchase peppermint oil to take home.

The event donations of water were provided by Lyons National Bank and Kinney Drugs while other donations were made by various individuals.  Our community event was completely run by volunteers.