Weekend Pick: A Freewheeling Ride

Ride a DART bus on Saturday to a bike trail, to a friends’ house, or to look at the leaves changing colors in one of the area’s parks and take your bicycle with you. DART is offering free bus rides to people who board with a bicycle during the month of October 2007. Next weekend you can ride your bicycle and take the bus on Sunday, too.

If you are driving to the 16th annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, DART will offer a shuttle from the Park and Ride lot at 7th and Center Streets to the Western Gateway Park (between Locust and Grand at about 15th Street). The cost is $1.00 for a round trip. The cost is $25 to participate in a run or a in a walk and you may register at the Western Gateway Park before 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 6th. You also can register on Thursday or Friday at the food court in Southridge Mall. The races will begin and end at the park. Regardless of your weekend activities, remember that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Another destination where you might want to cart your bike is the World Food Festival, sponsored by Wells Fargo in conjunction with the World Food Prize Harvest Festival. The Food Festival will be held in the East Village (East Locust at approximately East 6th Street). Friday-Sunday. The hours are: 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 7th. Food vendors offering a wide range of cuisines, other vendors, an international selection of beer, entertainment, and informational booths can be found at the event.

This is the Columbus Day holiday weekend. That usually means sales and for some lucky people a paid day off in which to catch those shopping enticements. Don’t neglect to shop at the numerous locally-owned stores and those stores with locally-made merchandise, crafts, and/or arts. If you have the day off, see what neat items these stores around Des Moines can offer for your year-end holiday or hostess gifts.

If you want to hear about upcoming cultural events, including interviews and reviews, tune into KFMG’s “The Culture Buzz” with John Busbee. It airs on FM 99.1 on Wednesdays from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Regatta report: The Head of the Des Moines regatta last weekend reportedly drew a nice crowd to Prospect Park, the ending point for races. My schedule and the routes of local buses placed me at the original starting point near the Botanical Center for the afternoon competitions. It was a nice place to sit and read and to listen to passers-by as they talked about the regatta. I noticed a slight chop on the water and saw the occasional motorboat. Unfortunately for those who gathered at the lower part of the course to watch crews, the afternoon races started at Birdland Marina due to high wind speeds.

Guest Writer: M.R. Field is editor of Leading Voices: Iowa .