CONTACT: Cameron Wake: 603-862-2329

The Third Annual Rockingham Bicycle/Pedestrian Bridge Fund-raiser will be held outside at the Redhook Ale Brewery at Pease International Tradeport on Fathers Day Sunday June 20, 1999, 1-6 PM. The event is part of an ongoing fundraising project organized by Seacoast Area Bicycle Routes (SABR), a local non-profit organization that is helping develop a bicycle transportation network in the New Hampshire Seacoast/Great Bay region.

Activities at the event include: an organized 20-mile bicycle tour around the Seacoast; guided bicycle tours of different levels on the hour from 2 to 5 PM; to the Rockingham Bridge, to the Fox Point bicycle path and to the Great Bay Wildlife Refuge; bicycle seminars, informational booths, kids events (a bicycle rodeo w/ dad for Fathers Day), live music with the Jumbo Circus Peanuts, raffles for cyclists, brewery tours, and a variety of other events.

Information on current and planned bicycle routes in the Seacoast/Great Bay region will be available. In addition, representatives of other advocacy groups will be present. Groups include the Seacoast Metropolitan Planning Organization, the East Coast Greenway Alliance, Rails to Trails Conservancy, the Granite State Wheelmen, American Diabetes Association, Pro Portsmouth, American Lung Association, Coast Transportation, SNEMBA, and the Seacoast Ski Club will be on hand to discuss their local, regional, and national efforts. Later in the afternoon the Jumbo Circus Peanuts, a local 12 piece band, will pay tribute to just about everything good that has happened to American pop music in the last 60 years.

The previous two years the focus of the event has been the Rockingham Bicycle/Pedestrian Bridge. It represents the "keystone" of a regional network of bicycle routes and will enable safe and easy travel for cyclists and pedestrians between Portsmouth and the Pease International Tradeport. In conjunction with the city of Portsmouth, the Pease International Tradeport, and the federal highway program, SABR has already helped raise 97% of the funds to cover the cost of constructing the $800,000 bridge.

For the past four years, SABR has been working with the Portsmouth Greenway Committee, the Pease Development Agency (PDA), Portsmouth and Newington Planning Departments, and the Seacoast Metropolitan Planning Organization to develop a safe and cost effective bicycle transportation network that will connect Portsmouth and seacoast New Hampshire with the Pease International Tradeport and Newington.