Bike Night blends friendly competition and service to support local families

Some assembly was required, and that’s what made the annual Bike Night a special event for Wayne County’s youth leaders and senior fair directors.

Working alongside those directors, junior fair board members and junior leaders pieced together 40 boys and girls bikes that will be given to children from families in need this holiday season.

Tom Stocksdale, senior fair director, said the bicycles would be delivered to People to People Ministries, Wayne County Children’s Services and Wayne County Toys for Tots.

“Bike Night has always been an exciting event for our Wayne County youth leaders,” 4-H program assistant Diane Johnson said. “It is something they look forward to each year.”

The event, she said, serves as a kickoff for the Junior Leaders program and the group’s commitment to giving back to the community. The event also welcomes the newly selected junior fair board members as they begin building relationships.

“Bike Night gives members a sense of pride knowing they are part of something bigger that helps the community,” said Hannah Getz, Ohio State University Extension 4-H educator for Wayne County.

The event keeps the veteran junior fair board members coming back to guide and interact with the younger members, and there’s some friendly competition between the workstations to see who can put the most bikes together.

One of those veterans, junior fair board member Brynn Shearer, said her team put together five bikes at one of the workstations in the Wayne County Fair Event Center. She enjoys the opportunity to help families during the holidays and work alongside the senior fair directors in the process.

Junior fair board member Lyla Ramsier said, "(It's) a way to give presents to the kids in the community who are not as fortunate as I am. It is important to me because it makes our community stronger.”

4-H clubs purchased most of the 20-inch bikes, and senior fair directors personally added enough to bring the number to 40. Stocksdale said the bikes were purchased at Shreve Hardware to recognize the support the store provides to the 4-H and junior fair programs.

The project started in 2005 after country music singer Aaron Tippin donated to fair directors two children’s bikes he assembled on stage during his performance at the Wayne County Fair. He signed the bikes, and they brought about $5,000 when auctioned off at the Junior Fair Livestock Sale.

That sparked an idea for a community service project that would allow directors to get to know the junior fair board members and junior leaders. Together, they assemble and donate an average of 30 bikes a year, Stocksdale said.

This year the group was joined by Christopher Brewer and Matthew Magistri, troopers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol Wooster Post. The post partners with the 4-H CARTEENS to present its traffic safety program for juvenile offenders, and inviting them to Bike Night was a way to extend that partnership. Following the bike assembly, the troopers shared information on winter driving safety.

“We are all about youth,” Stocksdale said, “and maybe some of these youth who get a bicycle might join 4-H.”