Great River Bicycle Festival

St. Paul, Wednesday; Cannon Falls, Thursday; Minneapolis, Friday; Mankato, Saturday; Stillwater, Sunday.... with races for amateurs, kids, women and men on each day.

Great River Energy, Elk River, one of the sponsors, is a not-for-profit electric cooperative providing reliable wholesale electricity to 28 distribution cooperatives serving more than 600,000 customers in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Great River Energy looks for ways to provide electricity in an environmentally friendly manner.

Warm for racing, but a wonderful community event. Scores of children on their dad's shoulders, kids with their bikes, dozens and dozens of infants and toddlers.

As there were kids of all sizes, there were dogs of all sizes. We even observed one bicycle racer who had brought her dog.
Some Stillwater folks were grilling for picnics and enterprising kids offered water or lemonade and cookies for sale. Our Hero brought the afternoon lattes. Brought some lunch to eat during the races Sunday afternoon... Organic cheddar, sesame crackers (no added fat), plus an apple, orange, banana and a bottle of water each.
We celebrated this as the best day of the year!