What do you get when you mix two seasoned artists with 4 great local organizations and a desire to live in a cleaner environment? You get a great event, that is open to the public, that you won’t want to miss on September 12th from 9:00 until 3:00. It’s called RIDE the Ride/ WALK your Talk/ SEE the Art. It begins at Union Station.

Bobbie Benson and Laurie Gibb are two local artists, and Rocky Mountain Chapter of Sierra Club volunteers, who took the Climate Train to New York City last September to be in the Citizens Climate March along with 400,000 other like-minded folks. They marched with People’s Climate Train people organized by 350.org. The goal was to give a loud message to the United Nations that the US needed to be stepping up to the plate with a rigorous plan of how we are going to address climate change with the Climate Accord Meetings set to begin in Paris in December of this year. What the two of them came away with was a huge desire to continue the work of drawing attention to climate change on whatever level they could. They then came up with the electric idea of trying to get more folks to use public transportation to reduce their carbon footprint and to combine it with all the wonderful public art that Denver has to offer. Thus, RIDE /WALK /SEE was hatched.

Participants are RTD, Denver Arts and Venues, Hyatt Regency, The Art a Hotel, and Museum of Outdoor Art. People will get to learn all about using public transportation. RTD will be at Union Station Plaza to inform people on all the ins and outs of using the shuttle, light rail and buses, including how to put your bike on the bike rack. Folks will also take in the art of metro Denver, free for the viewing. Participants can pick up their map showing the three art loops at Union Station on the day of the event. Tours will be self-guided but there will be docents at different spots along the way. Denver Arts and Venues will be offering two guided Artist Tours on that day.

“We have been amazed at the willingness of different organizations and businesses to sponsor RIDE/ WALK/ SEE to help defray the costs of putting on this event.” said Gibb. Three big sponsors are 350 Colorado, an environmental group working to keep carbon out of the air, The Art a Hotel, a new hotel at the corner of 12th and Broadway, “art-curated accommodations and heartfelt service,” and the Buckhorn Exchange a long established restaurant in Denver. 350 Denver will have a table at the event (along with 350 Colorado and other like minded groups).

There will be drawings for free RTD tickets every half hour. Don’t forget to bring your smart phone and you can take pictures along the way on the art loops and enter the photo contest that is going to be judged by Denver Arts and Venues. Using #RIDEWALKSEE you’ll have a chance to win some prizes that have been donated by local businesses.

The event is targeting people who care about our planet, and asking them to take a day to step out of their car. Get on down to Union Station and celebrate all the ways we can honor each other and our environment.

By Bobbie Benson and Laurie Gibb

You can get additional information at the following websites:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1639529472931931/

http://tioga.sierraclub.org./