Public Invited to Meet Cyclists in New Milford on 8-Day "Heritage Ride 2016" Bikeway Tour to Montreal

New Milford Green will be the site of an informational stop July 24 by cyclists on the three-state "Heritage Ride 2016" Bikeway Tour.

The New Milford community is invited on Saturday, July 23, 2016, at 12:30 p.m. to the Gazebo on the Green to welcome dozens of volunteer cyclists in the “Heritage Ride 2016” Bikeway Tour. The Tour will begin that morning at Weir Farm in Wilton, Connecticut’s only National Historic Site, and end Sunday, July 31st in Montreal, Canada.

The eight-day tour will take the volunteer cyclists through towns and rural back roads across western Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont. The awareness-building tour will highlight the scenic and historic attractions along the Western New England Greenway – a highly-prestigious nationally-recognized “U.S. Bicycle Route” (USBR) by AASHTO, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

The “grassroots” Western New England Greenway was created by a group of volunteer cyclists who wanted to highlight the many beautiful bike routes available western portions of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont. The multi-segment, multi-state Greenway bike route links New York City and Montreal and has been developed with supportive administration by the not-for-profit Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area (Housatonic Heritage), the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership in Burlington, VT, and the National Park Service RTCA – Rivers, Trails and Conservation -Program which provides technical assistance.

At 12:30 p.m. on July 23rd the cyclists will be half way to their final destination of “Sculpturedale” in Kent, the private home of steel and bronze sculpture artist Denis Curtiss for a celebration party at 5:00 p.m. The volunteer cyclists are riding the Greenway to Canada to highlight some of the best cycling roadways throughout western regions of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont. They will cycle along the Still River Greenway to New Milford to meet Mayor David Gronbach and other officials at the Gazebo on the Green at 12:30 p.m., and talk with area residents and cycling enthusiasts about the Greenway’s highly-scenic and history-rich Heritage Bikeway. The cyclists will then journey along the New Milford River Trail, through Bull’s Bridge in Kent and Cornwall Bridge up to “Sculpturedale” next to Kent Falls State Park.

About the Western New England Greenway and Heritage Bikeway:

The Western New England Greenway and Heritage Bikeway corridor follows mostly low-volume roadways through the very western portions of CT, MA and VT. The southern entry point connects the East Coast Greenway at the Merritt Parkway near Norwalk, CT with Quebec’s Route Verte at the Canadian border. The Bikeway includes over 300 miles of mapped routes that include nearby lodging, dining, cycling shops and heritage sites.

Since 2010, the “grassroots” group of volunteers from CT, MA and VT worked to establish the Western New England Greenway by encouraging various local groups to collaborate on a larger vision. The committee of volunteers has coordinated four annual conferences, created a website and Facebook site, and published maps of the most favorable on- and off-road routes that now comprise the Greenway.