CRAWFORD CO., Pa. — Crawford County-based organizations received two of the three Annual Greenways Awards of the Year for 2023 during the awards ceremony at the Franklin Trailhead on Wednesday afternoon.
(Pictured above: Accepting the Greenways Partner Award on behalf of Northwest Pa. Mobility Alliance are, from left, Tim Geibel, Kristin Hauser, Kay Koyack, and Andy Walker.)
This event also celebrated the 15th anniversary of the Council on Greenways and Trails, formed in 2008.
Northwest Pa. Mobility Alliance, Inc. is a non-profit corporation sharing offices with Crawford Area Transportation Authority in Meadville. NPMA received the “Thomas J. Allen Greenways Partner of the Year Award” in recognition of introducing in 2021 the first rural publicly-operated BikeShare program in the state.
Now in its third summer season, this bicycle rental service positions three-speed bicycles in multiple sites in the Meadville community including the very popular Ernst Trail Trailhead on Route 322 and a newly opened bike set at the park office trailhead at Goddard State Park encompassing Lake Wilhelm.
Using a smart phone, bike renters access the unlocking and payment system, and then return the equipment to a participating BikeShare station. This program is being gradually expanded to the Titusville area and several Venango County locations.
Accepting a large custom hand-made stoneware bowl, a framed certificate, and a dozen green/white Smiley cookies on behalf of NPMA were Tim Geibel (Exec. Director), Kristin Hauser (Asst. Director), and Board members Kay Koyack of Oil City, and Andy Walker with Allegheny College.
The Partner Award is sponsored by Franklin Industrial and Commercial Development Authority; presenting this award was FICDA Executive Director Debbie Eckelberger.
Similar items were accepted by Craig Farrar, President of the Hydetown Borough Council, on behalf of the Borough which received the “Richard M. Garrard Greenways Neighbor of the Year Award” for significant enhancements the Boro has championed on a new two-mile segment of the East Branch Trail now open for free year-round public use from the north end of Hydetown and through the Crawford County Forest, as a segment on the Erie to Pittsburgh Trail.