Friday, October 5, 2012

Village of Oak Park Bicycle Tour


This Saturday is the first tour outside the city limits of Chicago. Join them as they bike around and explore the Village of Oak Park. They are pleased to partner with the BBC, (British Bicycles of Chicago) on this ride and hope that many of you will take advantage of the expected cooler weather to layer up, perhaps in your finest tweed, and come along.

Several of the previous tours have featured community areas so densely packed with fantastic architecture it becomes almost comical just covering the essentials. The process of weeding out what they wouldn’t cover on the Oak Park tour has been far, far more torturous. They could easily put together a wonderful tour of all of the stuff that didn’t make the route on this one. Oak Park has the world’s largest concentration of Prairie Architecture, but there are also exquisite examples of amazing architecture in a host of other styles. It is positively sick with great architecture everywhere you look.

With a population of over 50,000, Oak Park is one of the largest municipalities in the state. It has an amazing history and a built environment unrivaled anywhere. You will see nearly two dozen pieces by Frank Lloyd Wright and scores of work by George W. Maher, E. E. Roberts, Charles E. White Jr., John S. Van Bergen and Tallmadge & Watson. Seeing the area on a bike enables you to cover more ground than on foot, but gives you a 360° view you miss in a car. The perfect timing to get the backdrop of the changing leaves only adds to the experience.

This tour would not have been possible without the help of Garth Katner of the BBC and without inspiration from Philander Barclay, a bike repair shop owner who cycled the city taking photographs of the buildings and people of Oak Park and River Forest. First he began collecting photos in the 1880s and by 1902 started taking his own pictures, many of which are now in the collection of the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest. He is the perfect muse for this venture. We hope you will come out and see the beautiful fall scenery and architectural that is Oak Park. As with all rides, all riders are required to wear a helmet.

At Scoville Park in between the park and the library, on Lake just west of Oak Park. There is construction at the park affecting original meeting place at the fountain at Lake and Oak Park.

This is just west of there. 

Buy Tour for $9

Buy Tour and 2012 Tour Poster for $12

Buy 2012 Tour Poster for $5   contact lee@bigshouldersrealty.com

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