The Upper Valley’s First Cranksgiving truly cranked!
Held Saturday, November 22, at the Upper Valley Haven in Wilder, VT, the event dispatched 22 riders on bikes and e-bikes to local stores to purchase food and other items and bike their loads back to the Haven — for a total of 383 pounds!
Participants rode their own bike or e-bike or borrowed one from the Upper Valley E-Bike Lending Library fleet co-managed by Vital Communities and Kilton Public Library. They brought $15-20 of their own money to purchase food for donation. A navigation device like a smart phone was also useful, and they needed to have a way to carry stuff, such as a backpack or bike bag.
Organizers offered hot coffee and snacks as the riders gathered, a list of items to purchase (from the Haven’s top 10 list of needs) and a suggested route for getting to the stores participants were to visit. There was an emergency number to call if a rider couldn’t get back (no one did), handwarmers, and hot soup at the end! Prizes went to the speediest rider, the heaviest load, and the best outfit or costume
Ther local event was part of a flurry of Cranksgiving events across North America (plus one in the UK). In Northern New England, events also took place in Brattleboro and Portland. According to its website, Cranksgiving began in the 1990s as a race among scrappy New York City bike messengers that later became a race to help those in need..
Wrote Upper Valley co-organizers Ben Jones and Anna Hubbard, “Huge thank you to the Upper Valley Haven for hosting us, for providing us with a list of needed items, and for supporting our community. To Vital Communities for bringing the Upper Valley E-Bike Lending Library to the event for folks to try out an e-bike for the day and for sponsoring the most important elements of 2025 Cranksgiving! To our many incredible volunteers for jumping right in! And to [the participants] for showing up. With stoke that high, how could we not start to plan next year?!”