We are pleased to announce an upcoming Savannah event to raise money for the Coastal Georgia Greenway.  The Savannah Jaycees have adopted CGG as a project and are raising money for our project this Wednesday, April 21 (apologies for the error in the post previously noting this event on Thursday), with a Savannah pub crawl — come on out and drink a toast to connectivity!

Savannah Jaycees are celebrating Earth Day by raising awareness and funds for this year’s honoree initiative, the Coastal Georgia Greenway. Join the Jaycees Wednesday, April 21 from 6-8 p.m. as they go green for Georgia with a fundraising Pub-crawl.  See the release below for full details!

The pub-crawl includes well-known downtown Savannah establishments One Eyed Lizzy’s, Fiddlers, Murphy’s Law and SEED Eco Lounge. The evening will kick off at 6 p.m. with a toast to Coastal Georgia Greenway and drink specials at One Eyed Lizzy’s, 417 East River St., and end with pizza and eco-conscious cheers at SEED Eco Lounge, 39 Montgomery St. All participants will receive a Jaycees reusable cup, the pub’s drink special of choice and will be able to purchase $1 draft beer. The pub-crawl is open to the public of legal drinking age. Please register via e-mail at info@savannahjaycees.com and bring $10 to be donated to Coastal Georgia Greenway. Also, $10 tickets are available prior to the event at SEED Eco Lounge. A ticket purchase automatically ensures registration and includes the Coastal Georgia Greenway donation.

The Savannah Jaycees is a civic organization of young professionals and entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 40, who have been taking an active part in the local community since the 1940s. For more information about the Savannah Jaycees, visit savannahjaycees.com or friend Savannah Jaycees on Facebook.

Our thanks to the all the Savannah Jaycees, and in particular Sara Lewis for championing our cause!

Posted on April 20th, 2010 by Drew Wade
Filed under: Chatham County, Get Involved, Latest News | No Comments »

Support the Greenway with a ride on Jekyll Island next month — Nov 28!

What better way to experience Jekyll Island’s Christmas celebration than to be cruising through the historic neighborhoods on your own “clean green machine,” namely, your bicycle. No combustible engines. No rolled up windows, isolating you from really experiencing the celebration of Christmas lights. No, just you, your family, and several of your closest friends, pedaling peacefully through our colorful history, illuminated with the brilliant colors of the season.

The Jingle Bell Ride, scheduled for Saturday, November 28th at 9:30am, is an eighteen mile, casual, family ride around Jekyll Island. The one to three hour ride will be held in conjunction with the Jekyll Island Christmas Tree lighting Festival. The festival includes a tree-lighting in front of the historic Jekyll island club hotel, holiday crafts, family fun, delicious food, and outstanding Christmas decorations.

The ride is being held to offer a fun family activity, and to promote not only Jekyll Island, but also the Coastal Georgia Greenway, which when complete, will offer pedalers and hikers in Georgia paved paths from south in St. Marys north to Savannah, ultimately part of the East Coast Greenway connecting 3000 miles between Maine and Key West.

Online preregistration is available here!

Posted on October 30th, 2009 by Drew Wade
Filed under: Latest News | No Comments »

Coastal Georgia Greenway Board member Terry Landreth’s business in St. Marys, Camden Bicycle Center, has been awarded Silver level Bicycle Friendly Business recognition from the League of American Bicyclists!  Terry is extremely active in advocacy for bicycling in coastal Georgia, and this recognition is well deserved!  Please join us in congratulating Terry on this honor!

From the press release:

Washington, DC – September 16, 2009 – The League of American Bicyclists is proud to announce CAMDEN BICYCLE CENTER is named as a SILVER Bicycle Friendly Business and is one of the 45 new BFB award winners. This is the third time BFB winners have been announced since the program’s inception in 2008 when the League announced the first 13 designees. “We’re delighted to highlight CAMDEN BICYCLE CENTER and the ways in which they are getting more people on bikes,” stated League President Andy Clark. “In today’s challenging economic climate, businesses with healthy, happy and productive employees are going to be the most competitive and the most sustainable – the Bicycle Friendly Business program recognizes some of the best examples of this in practice.”

Businesses that apply for the award designation inspire and encourage their peers. The CAMDEN BICYCLE CENTER serves as an example for best practices and innovations in bicycle friendliness at the workplace CAMDEN BICYCLE CENTER makes bicycling an easy option for transportation and provides amenities such as safe and secure parking areas and incentives such as discount employee purchases.

The BFB program recognizes socially responsible businesses that promote healthy, happy, and green workplaces and provides a road map to become even more bicycle-friendly in the years to come. “Businesses across the nation are rising to the challenge of reducing their carbon footprint and improving the health of their employees – we are excited to be able to provide a roadmap to help achieve both these goals, and to recognize those companies that are leading the way,” said Clark.

Bicycle Friendly Businesses are corporations, organizations, nonprofits and associations that weave bicycling into their business culture and give employees and customers the opportunity to be active stewards of their personal and environmental health through bicycling. When bicycling is infused in an office or company culture, great things happen: reduced health care costs; more productive employees; improved worker and customer; satisfaction; smaller carbon footprint; and increased corporate social responsibility. See attached or click here for all new 2009 Fall BFB award winners. Click here to view a list of all BFB winners.

Posted on October 5th, 2009 by Drew Wade
Filed under: Camden County, Latest News | No Comments »

[BRUNSWICK] – The Brunswick City Commission yesterday overwhelmingly endorsed the Coastal Georgia Greenway, a proposed 161-mile system of trails traversing coastal Georgia from Florida to South Carolina.

Brunswick’s endorsement brings to 10 the number of municipal and county governments that have expressed support for the project over the past 4 weeks. Brunswick’s Mayor Bryan Thompson states that “Preliminary analysis indicates that the 155-mile trail will pay for itself within three years, with a projected six percent increase in valuation in each county it traverses every year thereafter. It will help provide safe and accessible routes for pedestrians, bikes, scooters and golf carts, will enable mobility-challenged individuals, tie together currently isolated segments of local communities, and enhance the value of residential developments. The Coastal Georgia Greenway will immediately create significant positive economic impact for Georgia’s coastal communities.”

On July 13th, the Jekyll Island Authority also passed supporting resolutions. Jones Hooks, Executive Director, Jekyll Island Authority states, “As Jekyll Island revitalization moves forward, we are looking at more than bricks and mortar. We are looking at opportunities that will allow our guests to enjoy the natural assets of Jekyll Island. Certainly, the Coastal Georgia Greenway Trail fits this goal perfectly. I am pleased to encourage support of the Coastal Georgia Greenway Trails project!”

“As growth in coastal Georgia continues, it is essential that we protect and position for the enjoyment of others our unique cultural and natural assets. The Coastal Georgia Greenway project is one of the important first steps in creating low impact eco-tourism on our coast. The Coastal Georgia Greenway project should help to preserve for future generations our natural and cultural assets thereby assuring an unparalled quality of life on our coast,” says J. Howard Morrison, Jr. of Lebanon Plantation in Savannah.

The City of Savannah is assisting in the grant-writing process and will assist with project administration, when funded. Mayor Otis Johnson of Savannah notes, “The Coastal Georgia Greenway project scores on many fronts: it would boost our economy through improvements to tourism and quality of life, provide recreational opportunities within a short distance of many of our residents, and would serve as a centerpiece of an improved network for nonmotorized transportation. This project would advance goals of our Thrive and Healthy Savannah initiatives, and the City of Savannah is very enthusiastic about efforts to seek funding for the Coastal Georgia Greenway.”

Other coastal Georgia communities have formally endorsed the greenway in the last month:

• Chatham County
• Bryan County
• McIntosh County
• Glynn County
• Darien
• Kingsland
• Riceboro
• Woodbine
• Richmond Hill

Additional endorsements are anticipated in the coming weeks.

The full press release is available here, or you can read on below.

(more…)

Posted on August 6th, 2009 by Drew Wade
Filed under: Bryan County, Camden County, Chatham County, Glynn County, Latest News, Liberty County, McIntosh County | No Comments »

We got some more press last week as coastal Georgia’s trails leaders rode through Northeast Florida on the Savannah-Northeast Florida Workshop on Wheels (SNF-WOW). This from the Jacksonville paper on Saturday highlights an important point we all took from the experience:  namely, that it is critical to have high level support in government for a project to be successful.

Jacksonville City Councilman Don Redman, who was riding with the Workshop on Wheels participants this week, signed on as an advocate.

“I’m an avid biker. I bike on a regular basis, and I want to promote biking in Jacksonville,” Redman said. “Workshop on Wheels is a great opportunity to do that. I feel like this will get more people involved in biking for recreation and for pleasure.”

The story also pointed out many of the potential benefits of trails, just as we have been putting forth in our message up and down Georgia’s coast.  We’ll have a full wrapup of the event later this week.

The workshop has another goal, beyond tourism: To encourage residents to get out of their cars and take on cycling as a form of transportation, physical fitness and fun.

“Young professionals more than anybody want trails. They want to be fit and healthy, and they are concerned with the environment,” Hiller said. “If you have a good trail system, you will attract and keep young professionals.”

Posted on January 19th, 2009 by Drew Wade
Filed under: Latest News | No Comments »