A number of Philomath Elementary students gathered at Newton Creek Park Friday morning, but they weren’t waiting for a traditional school bus. Instead, they arrived with bicycles, helmets and big smiles for the second “bike bus” ride of the school year.
Between 40 and 50 children joined Principal Eric Beasley, physical education teacher Jake Craig and others — including Philomath Mayor Christopher McMorran — on the roughly 1.5-mile journey to school under cool but clear skies.
The 20-minute ride, which began at 7:30 a.m., headed down the Hunsaker Bike Path, through Philomath City Park, past the high school and middle school on bicycle-pedestrian paths, by the primary school and finally to the elementary school’s front doors. When classes were dismissed for the day, the bike bus made the return trip in reverse.
“One of the things that they describe is it takes them back to being a kid and the empowerment and joy of riding a bike and that feeling of freedom and being with your friends,” Beasley said, referencing successful bike bus programs in Portland that have even attracted participation from celebrities like Justin Timberlake and singer Benson Boone.
The bike bus concept traces back to 2020 in Spain when two teachers began accompanying nine children to school by bicycle through busy, polluted streets. In the United States, the modern bike bus movement gained significant momentum after the Alameda Bike Bus in Portland was featured on NBC Nightly News in 2022.
Started by physical education teacher Sam Balto, the Portland program became so popular that it inspired Oregon legislation to provide school districts funding flexibility to support bike buses and walking school buses. Balto has since co-founded Bike Bus World to help other communities launch their own programs.
A bike bus operates like a traditional school bus route, but on bicycles. Children and adult volunteers gather at designated meeting points, then ride together along planned routes, picking up more riders along the way. Adult volunteers typically take on specific roles as ride leaders, with some positioned at the rear and others helping at intersections.
Friday’s ride was the second bike bus event of the school year — the first took place in September. Beasley worked with the police department and city manager’s office to develop a safe route that would work for elementary-aged students.
The idea emerged from conversations between Beasley and Craig about ways to get students more actively involved in biking. After discussing the concept, Beasley brought the proposal to the school’s Parent-Teacher Organization.
While the school district has traditionally held a bike rodeo and taken third graders on a field trip to Avery Park, those events occur at the end of the school year. The bike bus offers a different kind of experience — one focused on community building and regular participation rather than a single annual event.
Beasley envisions the program growing significantly. He hopes to establish the bike bus as a regular end-of-the-month activity, possibly beginning as soon as next year. The Newton Creek Park to Philomath Elementary route has proven successful, and there’s already talk of adding a second starting point.
“Jake would maybe lead one route and I would lead the other with some parents and we’d be able to have those merge together and cover most of the city proper,” Beasley said. “So that’s the vision — to scale up to two routes and then do it monthly.”
A second route might start from Westbrook Park in the western section of town, allowing the two groups to converge and provide access to families throughout Philomath’s city limits.
Beasley mentioned that the school has about 20 bicycles in storage — those are kept on site to use with the bike rodeo.
“Our intent is if a student would like to participate in a bike bus and doesn’t have a bike, we’ll be able to loan that bike out to a family to use,” he said.
The loaner program removes a significant barrier to participation and reflects the broader goals of the bike bus movement — building community connections, promoting physical activity and giving children the sense of freedom and independence that comes from riding with friends.
Beasley said he hopes to organize the next bike bus ride in March, though if winter weather cooperates, one could be scheduled sooner.
As communities across the country have discovered, bike buses offer more than just an alternative way to get to school. They create joyful Friday morning traditions and give children an active, social start to their day — all while building the kind of community connections that make small towns like Philomath special.
2. KV Cemetery fixes old headstones
The Kings Valley Cemetery Association has successfully completed a project to repair 28 headstones in the pioneer section of Kings Valley Cemetery, work that was funded in part through a $3,500 grant.
Dave Pinyerd and Bernadette Niederer of Historic Preservation Northwest completed the work between July and September.
“Last year, Dave Pinyerd of Historic Preservation Northwest was repairing a headstone for an individual and we had them do a repair assessment of headstones in the pioneer section of the cemetery,” said Marcia Gilson, Kings Valley Cemetery’s clerk. “In doing the assessment, he also encouraged me to apply for an Oregon Historic Cemetery grant — which we did and we were one of the cemeteries chosen to receive a grant for our project.”
The work occurred in the cemetery’s pioneer section, which is located in the northwest quadrant at the top of a slope. The majority of the grave markers repaired involved resetting in lime mortar.
“Compared to other pioneer cemeteries we have visited and worked at in Oregon, we found the Kings Valley Cemetery to be in great shape,” Pinyerd and Niederer wrote in their report.
The land where Kings Valley Cemetery is located was settled originally by Charles Allen in 1847. The oldest documented grave is that of Cynthia Norton, who died May 14, 1850, at age 6 days.
The preservation specialists included several suggestions for improvements in their report and even mentioned that they had “never encountered so many yellowjackets within a cemetery.”
“The cemetery hopes to work on more headstones in the future but that is several years out,” Gilson said. “For a rural cemetery, I feel we are pretty busy — we range from two to five internments a year and there is lots of history in the families laid to rest out there.”
3. Dax on the job — in security
If you happen to do some shopping down at Salem Center in the capital city’s downtown section, don’t be surprised if you run across Dax. In addition to things like food delivery and sidewalk mapping, the little Philomath robots have also ventured into the world of security.
The semi-autonomous Dax robots patrol the downtown shopping center during open hours, looking for safety incidents and providing a visible security presence for shoppers and retailers. The robots are designed to deter nuisance activity through their presence and positive engagement with visitors.
“Safety and hospitality go hand in hand,” said Kelly McDonald, managing partner at Salem Center. “Daxbot’s units add security presence and a welcoming touchpoint for our guests while working alongside our on-site team.”
During routine patrols through interior corridors, the robots can identify issues such as access concerns and safety incidents. When incidents requiring attention are detected, on-site security personnel are notified for faster response times.
“It’s exciting to have Dax involved in a community so close to our home,” said Mason Reeves, security sales lead at Daxbot. “He’s there to help and to be a friendly face to visitors at the Salem Center.”
Shoppers are welcome to take photos with the clearly marked robots and ask questions. Daxbot describes itself as a people-centric company that prioritizes human safety and comfort in its robot designs.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).