The Cal-Sag Cycles Team wants to say that the entire event couldn’t have been possible without a long list of thanks:

Friends of the Calumet-Sag Trail, Rails to Trails Conservancy, and Coca-Cola Foundation. Of course, our funders get top billing. Special shout-out to Steve Buchtel for getting in up to his eyeballs in bike shop business, and to Active Transportation Alliance for letting him.

Jennie Malysa and Amy Malysa. Jennie allowed us access to her building - which is available if anyone wants to open a bike shop!! Amy helped coordinate in a million ways, was tireless in promoting the shop, and helped make sure we didn’t miss any details. Bike Craft was Amy’s special contribution to this pop-up, and it was a hit! Cal-Sag Cycles absolutely could not have happened without the support of the Malysa family.

12840 Gallery and Amanda Kaliski. The pop-up that was the inspiration for it all! 12840 Gallery graciously gave up their window displays and moved to the walls so Cal-Sag Cycles could move in. Local artist and curator, Amanda Kaliski, put in more hours than anyone helping make Cal-Sag Cycles look awesome. She gave up her weekends helping clean and prep the space. Her fiance Jose helped with logos, and Amanda helped design the shop windows. With Amy Malysa, Amanda provided lots of opportunities for kids to interact with their bikes through art at Bike Craft.

School District 130 and Jane Healy. Jane, beyond volunteering as recruiter, coordinator, and in-demand bike shop mechanic, also helped us work with SD 130 to provide insurance, critical for our program moving forward.

Steve Millsaps. When he heard we were working with youth in Blue Island, Steve jumped in to help. With a quick course in bike maintenance and repair under his belt, Steve has become a mentor and role model to more than a dozen kids in Blue Island.

West Town Bikes and Alex Wilson. We needed to train 15 kids. Who do you call? Alex at West Town, of course! Alex’s influence is all over Cal-Sag Cycles, from the training materials, to the tools and bike stands, the loaner bikes for learning repair skills, even helping us order our new Fuji bikes for the kids.

City of Blue Island. Mayor Donald E. Peloquin recognized the promise of our bike shop and was key to making it happen. Clerk Pam Frasor gave us the green light to proceed, and Fire Chief Bob Copp worked with the shop to make it safe for our kids. Ken Stachulak and Blue Island Public Works donated man hours and equipment to help our grand opening run smoothly.

Alderman Christine Buckner-Cheatle. Ald. Cheatle pitched in from the start, helping every which way, from mopping floors, delivering supplies, promoting our grand opening, to coordinating arrangements with Police, Fire, and Public Works… and probably half-a-dozen other things that went unnoticed, but not unappreciated. Chris and her husband Ron were instrumental in making this event a success and constantly asked: “what can we do to help.”

Christy Webber Landscapes. Val Kehoe at CWL’s Blue Island pop-up garden center (11900 Division St) had street trees delivered for us to borrow. Val and her daughter Elizabeth helped select shrubs, plants, and veggies that made our street complete.

Mark Miller. When Mark heard we needed to find a way to get six trees and dozens of plants to our shop, he simply replied: “let me change into shorts.” Mark jumped into action and made it happen. When thanked, he simply replied, “any port in a storm.” THAT is the Blue Island attitude we love.

The Aguilar Family. When our food vendors disappeared, a text to Nick was all that was needed. Nick and his brothers Jesse and Adrian were on hand all day manning the grill, providing tasty eats to a huge crowd. Check out Jesse’s pics from the event.

Annie West and Maple Tree Inn. Annie volunteered to help Nick at the grill, and when she heard we needed food, talked to Erich and Katie at the Maple Tree Inn (13301 Olde Western) and got us a big donation to help us feed a hungry group of shoppers and volunteers. Perfection!

Gina Kenny and League of Illinois Bicyclists. We don’t know if Gina suspected she was gonna have to get her hands dirty on Saturday, but when the rush was on and the shop was swamped with folks eager to get their bikes repaired, Gina pitched in and helped with repair, advice, and crowd control.

CARR home-garden-holiday and Superior Real Estate. Local businesses that stopped by with welcome gifts. We couldn’t have felt any better about contributing just a bit to our beloved Uptown, if only for one day. Visit CARR and Superior.

Blue City Cycles and Goodspeed Cycles. The LBS’s our PULBS loves most. Both hooked us up with great deals to stock the shop with tubes, cables, tires, chains, and more that helped us serve 90 eager cyclists. Visit Blue City in Bridgeport and Goodspeed in Homewood.

Our Artists. Miguel Salgado created the Cal-Sag Cycles design seen on the Cal-Sag crew’s tshirts. David Castillo provided the screenprinting. Chema Skandal! designed our scandalous Creature from the Cal-Sag mascot. Dave Minetti at Visual Perfection printed tshirts. Little Dave Merriman created our retro, BMX logo used here and on twitter and flickr - tshirts available soon!

James Street Associates. The folks at James Street distributed our pre- and post-event media releases to local and regional publications.

From the Cal-Sag Crew, all the kids that worked in the shop… we’d like to give the biggest thanks to our friends and neighbors who stopped by on Saturday! Through the generous donations of our customers we raised $250, which will help us in our efforts to keep this thing going! If you’d like to contribute, contact Cal-Sag Cycles at calsagcycles@gmail.com - and thanks again to all!