The Pennsy Greenway Pathway was glowing with excitement as bikers navigated their way around the trail during the Pennsy Bike Night Ride on Saturday, August 26. The event was made possible through the collaborative efforts of the Munster and Schererville Parks Departments and invited community members from all over Northwest Indiana to come together for a fun summer night under the stars.
The ride took bikers through about a 15-mile portion of the Pennsy that’s connected between the two towns. A while back, the trail, part of the Great National Trail that runs from coast to coast, was only established in bits and pieces across the area, but Munster and Schererville have worked hard to make improvements to the trail over the past 10-15 years. Through the improvements, they hoped to showcase that while Lake County may be a large area, the towns, and cities throughout are connected in many more ways than one would originally think, creating the ultimate sense of community.
“This bike ride was a way to take advantage of that and showcase how the towns can be connected now that you can get around pretty easily on some of the trails or on the routes that they have in various communities,” said Town of Munster Director of Parks and Recreation Mark Heintz.
Riders began their trek at Rohrman Park in Schererville and biked about seven miles to the halfway point at Centennial Park in Munster before making their way back. The new and improved pathway allowed riders to bike with ease, making it a nice and easy commute with some breathtaking sights along the way.
“It's really a nice pathway because most people who are avid cyclists like to ride paths where they're not having to cross the street, every corner, every block, or every few blocks,” Heintz said. “They like the stretches where you can drop your guard a little bit and just enjoy the ride and take in nature as these corridors go along. They actually connect to a lot of our parks in both communities and there's usually a lot of foliage and trees along the corridors.”
Exploring trails such as the Pennsy is also a nice reminder that a car isn’t always needed to explore the ins and outs of Lake County.
“It helps support that overall regional partnership from community to community to really satisfy and to really promote Northwest Indiana as a more walkable, livable community,” Heintz said. “We want to have these interconnections where you don't always have to get in a car to go somewhere, where you have the opportunity to get on a bike and go to a destination. I think that that's really one of the ways that we're able to do it, but specifically this partnership has allowed us to spread the work a little bit among both towns. We each have a share of what our responsibilities are, and it works really well.”
Bikers also really get in on the fun to make the night really one to remember. This includes decking their bikes out with lights or colorful decorations, and sometimes even dressing up in fun costumes.
“It gets people out there and a lot of people decide to decorate their bike with lights or to decorate themselves with costumes and lights. We do have people who dress up and enjoy it, even to the point where they ring their bells and their bikes along with other various things. It's really neat to see the participants when they go out,” Heintz said.
The event has proven to be a huge success over time, though the Pennsy is only one of the reasons people come back to the ride year after year. The sense of community and camaraderie it brings has always been a favorite part of many. As a bike rider himself, Heintz has always loved coming out to events like these to meet new people and explore new areas, and is excited the towns he works with will experience the same as well. The parks do a lot for any given community, and their purpose is even amplified more through events such as the night ride.
“Parks as a whole have always created community by bringing people together. You come together, playing on a playground and you both have two moms out there with two 2-year-olds and they maybe grow up together to be best friends. Or maybe they played on the same baseball team or soccer team and they'd grow up together,” Heintz said. “That's usually where our parks have been for many years, and now you're starting to see it on these pathways. It’s really, really pushing that stronghold while making it more convenient and accessible for everybody because these pathways are interconnecting our parks and it's bringing the pathway or the recreational amenities a little bit closer to somebody's home.”
For more information on other fun community events the Town of Munster has coming up, visit its website here, and be sure to add a few to your calendar.
