Bikes! Bikes! Bikes!

The racks in K-Mart are nearly empty of their bicycles after the Old Boy Bikers came through the store stocking up for their free bike give-a-way at this year’s Stars and Stripes on the River.

Whether it was a Schwinn or a Huffy, bikes of all sizes and colors were lined up to make ready for handing out Saturday afternoon to almost 70 lucky boys and girls. Ken Forsythe with the Old Boy Bikers, the group teaming up with the Zanesville Jaycees to hold Stars and Stripes on the River, couldn’t be happier with the out pouring of support. “As far as our donations, its been elected officials to businesses to organizations to individuals like ourselves and the out pour of the donations, I mean the overflow, just a tremendous over flow, we’re ecstatic with everything that’s going on, we’re really happy with the everyone in Zanesville, but times are tough and things are good for us.”

The group purchased 43 bikes this afternoon and have up to another 20 donations on the way, including the bike a generous patron decided to donate right there in the store. “Every bike we purchase today, will be tagged by the sponsor that bought it, we will put the phone number of the sponsor on it so that when the child wins the bike, they can call the sponsor and thank them for that. When a sponsor hears that they’ve been thanked or hears a little kid on the phone, that makes them want to help the community even more when it comes to kids”

The 4th of July celebrations kick off Friday evening at 6:00pm and go on until 11pm at Zane’s Landing Park and Saturday starts with the first bike being passed out at 11:00am and every 20 minutes until 1:00pm at Zane’s Landing Park.