Screen capture of frame of video showing three people in bicycles along a paved greenway with grass on either side and trees without leaves on the left side, and trees with some leaves on the right side, in what appears to be the fall or winter.

Some very cool news announced today by Mayor Jess Anderson–the Town of Chapel Hill has been awarded a grant for the “Wheels for Wellness” for what is essentially a bookmobile for bikes!

In a video that was released in conjunction with the award, Alyson West, the Town’s Safe Routes to School coordinator, noted that the program “is built around the idea that we have a trailer full of bikes for kids of all sizes and we will be able to go to the communities and pop up as a block party with bikes, to bring bicycles and bike safety education and the fun of bike riding to them.”

“There’s going to be music and there’s going to be games and food. It’s a party for the whole neighborhood,” Bergen Watterson, the Town’s Mobility and Greenways Manager, says in the video. “My hope is that with this newfound love of cycling, that they will look to ride a bike as the default instead of driving a car.”

The grant, for $125,000, was awarded to the Town for winning first place in the Childhood Obesity Prevention & Environmental Health and Sustainability contest in the small city category. The award is sponsored by the American Beverage Association in partnership with the US Conference of Mayors.

The video is available here and embedded below.

Geoff Green, AICP lives in Chapel Hill. In his day job he's a practicing urban planner; in his spare time he rides his electric bike around town and advocates for improved facilities so that everyone can...