Cascade and Flying Bike co-op to partner on benefit event
By Cynthia Mullis, Cascade member & Guest Contributor
Early in the morning on Wednesday, March 9, a natural gas explosion rocked the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle, leveling three businesses and damaging many others. G&O Family Cyclery, located adjacent to the explosion site on Greenwood Avenue between North 84th and 85th streets, suffered major damage and has been forced to relocate and rebuild.
Co-owned by Davey Oil and Tyler Gillies, G&O Family Cyclery is at the center of Seattle’s family and cargo biking movement. According to Davey, G&O Family Cyclery is a specialty bike shop that encourages its customers to make transportation choices that support a community-wide paradigm shift. As a result, these customers depend on their bicycles every day.
“We don’t want to have one bad day strand all those people…but we did have a bad day and now we’re out of commission,” he said.
Both Davey and Tyler are fierce bike advocates who are integral to the family bike movement. Last year, Cascade awarded Davey Oil with the Doug Walker Award at the Bike Everywhere Breakfast for his work. By supporting bikes for families with kids and others who want to make biking a foundation of their transportation lifestyle, they help lower the barrier to biking in Seattle.
“We’ve worked hard on building this shop. Having it just explode is heartbreaking,” said Davey.
G&O crew from left to right: Donald Villarreal, Tyler Gillies, Davey Oil, Karl Chapman. Photo by Cynthia Mullis.
The community is rallying around the shop with fundraising efforts. By mid-April, more than $43,600 had been raised through a GoFundMe account. You can still donate at gofundme.com/n7tmv4xg.
Cascade is also hosting a fundraiser at Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery to benefit G&O Family Cyclery this Thursday! Join us:
Fundraiser for G&O Family Cyclery
Thursday, May 5 from 4 to 9 p.m. Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery8570 Greenwood Ave. N, SeattleA dollar from every pint sold will support G&O Family Cyclery
Committed to serving their customers and keeping their staff employed, G&O reopened in mid-April in a temporary location at 8554-1/2 Greenwood Avenue, just one block north of its blown-out location. Davey and Tyler are working hard to find a permanent location in Greenwood.
“The neighborhood has been amazing and we don’t want to lose that,” said Davey. “We saw people willing to support our bike shop as a resource to our community and as a hub in a community-building network.”
Along with continued sales and service for the cargo bike community, his goals for the new shop include creating a space that supports that social infrastructure, in addition to facilitating meetings and education.
“We want the new shop to be a place that reflects the love and support that we’ve felt since this happened. We never want to take that for granted,” said Davey. “It’s a very touching thing for Flying Bike and Cascade to give over this spotlight to us. We really appreciate it and can’t wait to party with everyone at the fundraiser.”
Bring your friends and join us for a brew at Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery to benefit G&O Family Cyclery this Thursday, May 5 from 5 to 9 p.m.
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