Springtime greetings and salutations! I know the calendar says May, but it seems like winter just doesn’t want to call it quits. Still, it’s hard not to notice that spring is taking over, with all the colorful tulips and daffodils blooming all around town.

With that in mind, it’s time to embrace the springtime weather and head for the great outdoors. Join me at the inaugural Mayor’s Bicycle Fun Run May 30! Starring the Northampton Borough Police Department Bike Patrol and the Kiwanis Club of Greater Northampton, Canal Street Park will be the hub of that afternoon’s activities.

Starting noon, the bike patrol will begin with a bicycle safety check and a “rules of the road” refresher talk. At approximately 1 p.m., the Kiwanis Club takes over with their ever-popular bike rodeo, along with a “bling your bike” session. We’ll get on the trail around 3 p.m., with a bike ride up to Treichlers Bridge — or for the younger bikers, the Laurys Station trailhead — then back for refreshments.

Of course, the police bike patrol will lead the run, monitoring the safety of all our riders throughout the trip. All riders will be required to wear a helmet.

I can’t stress enough that this is not a race but an enjoyable ride on the D&L Trail. This is a free event, though we request participants bring a nonperishable food item for Northampton Area Food Bank.

The patrol officers will also be visiting our local schools, classroom by classroom, to invite our students and their parents. I planned this event to be a family-centric day where everyone will have the opportunity to meet the bike patrol up close and personal and introduce the newly formed Kiwanis Club, with the wide array of activities they’ll bring to the town.

Since this is the first year we’re holding the event, in order to get an idea of how many riders to expect, visit our Facebook page at “Mayor’s Bicycle Fun Run” and sign in with the number of participants in your group.

I know this will be an enjoyable and entertaining event given all we have planned, so please join me, our bike patrol and our good friends in the Kiwanis Club for an afternoon in the park and on the trail.

In the spirit of celebrating our great country’s 250th anniversary July 4, I will be accepting applications for the Northampton Hometown Heroes banner project May 11-22. With so many requests still coming in, I thought it only right to open up the project, getting your requests processed so we can have the banners flying by July 4.

Know that May 22 is a hard deadline, given all the behind-the-scenes preparations it takes to get the banners back in a timely manner. With that in mind, you can get your applications at borough hall. I look forward to adding these heroes to the hundreds of banners already flying throughout town.

Speaking of our veterans, I want to send out a big thank you to Kelly Bauer, Valley Health Partners program manager, along with our local military service organizations — the American Legion, the Catholic War Veterans and the Veterans of Foreign Wars — for bringing the 2026 Northampton Veteran’s outreach day to the borough this past Saturday. Held at the Hungarian Hall, this well-attended event brought together more than 40 organizations and companies to assist our veterans with their needs and concerns, providing them with many of these resources under one roof.

This event is held annually, so if you missed it, plan ahead for next May’s event. Great job, Kelly and crew!

A very happy Mother’s Day to all of our lovely, selfless, tireless moms we have here in our lives! I understand the most rewarding and simplest thing you can do for your mother is say “thank you” and “love you, mom” as often as possible.

There you have it — more activities to go along with all of your springtime cleaning, gardening and the season’s outdoor pleasures. I look forward to seeing you at the fun run and/or out and about as I do some biking of my own around town.

Take care, everyone!