Last Friday was a beautiful day, perfect for riding a bike.
That’s what Assessor of Property Melvin Burgess and I did with dozens of our friends, colleagues and neighbors.
We led a safe, family-friend bike ride through Shelby Farms Park to kick off another “Move with the Mayor” event.
It was part of the Shelby County’s Health Department’s celebration of National Public Health Week and a chance for us to encourage health and wellness through outdoor activity.
We had an event like this nearly 2 years ago in 2019, when we all got on bikes and rode through Downtown. It was a great event and everyone turned out. But like so many other events planned for 2020, the coronavirus made it impossible to do the event last year.
It’s been such a long time since we could safely get together to enjoy events like this.
Thankfully, as more people receive the COVID-19 vaccine and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gives us updated guidance to interact safely, 2021 is shaping up to be a different year.
The CDC and our own Health Department have told us how to reduce the spread of the virus and mitigate infections. And, they’ve also told us about the importance of physical activity. That’s why we met this year at the park, to raise our moods, improve our immune systems and to connect with the great outdoors.
We were able to get together as best we could, from a distance.
A lot of people put in a lot of work to make the event special.
The Shelby County Health Department, led by interim Director LaSonya Hall, loaded their tables with helpful giveaways and health-related information.
Dr. Hall was there as well. She and I rode electric bikes from Explore Bike Share. Those bikes made taking the hills so much easier.
Groups Grind City Cycling Club and Major Taylor Memphis Bicycle Club showed up in force. Sylvia Crum, commute options program manager with Innovate Memphis also left her well-stocked information table long enough to ride with us.
And before the ride, Odie Tolbert, owner of Cardi-O FiTness, made sure we stretched to warm up our muscles.
During it all, DJ Stan Bell kept the music playing and the Grizzlies Hype Team kept everybody pumped up.
I want to thank everyone who came out and especially team member Dominique Winfrey, COVID-19 coordinator, for organizing the day and sweating all the details.
We had a great time and it was for a great cause, a healthy Shelby County.
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