Bemidji Parks & Recreation Hosts 1st Ever Cranksgiving Event

A few bike riders braved the cold winter elements to give back to the Bemidji Community Food Shelf for the city’s first ever Cranksgiving.

Cranksgiving is a biking even that been held in more than 80 cities all over the world. It works like a food drive scavenger hunt – bike riders are assigned to go to different grocery stores in the community and collect a list of needed donations. The items the riders get were all listed as items most needed by the food shelf.

Henry Pan, the Air Pollution Reduction Specialist for the City of Bemidji, says, “It’s basically giving back to the community, supporting a local food shelf in a time of need, as well as a way to promote active living, and you partly also see people biking in a winter and the fact that people are biking in a winter and supporting the food shelf, it’s a great way to raise awareness for the food shelf, as well as show that winter biking is a feasible way to get around in the City of Bemidji.”

Five people participated in the first Cranksgving. Together, they donated more than 500 ounces of food. At the end of the day, each bike rider also walked away with a door prize.

Lynn Schuster, the first rider finished with his route, says, “My route was going to Lueken’s South and Harmony Foods with X amount of items to grab and come back here and check in and the weather conditions were great. Slightly windy, but if you dress for it, it was awesome. It was a lot of fun.”

The Bemidji Parks and Recreation Department says they will debrief about the Cranksgiving event and then possibly bring it back next year.