When the idea of making Christmas ornaments comes to mind, the first thing people think of is probably not used bicycle parts.
The owners of Prairie Path Cycles in Batavia, though, had other ideas as they offered an ornament workshop on Saturday using recycled bike parts as their medium of choice.
Amy Baehr of Wheaton, who works part-time at the Winfield location of the bike shop, was helping youngsters access paint, glitter and other materials to make the ornaments at the event in Batavia.
“It’s true when you think about making a Christmas ornament the first thing you reach for isn’t a bike chain,” she said. “I think this is cool. Frankly, I have jewelry that looks like little bike parts so I think it’s really cool. I think when kids realize they’re not making something out of paper they’re going to have a good time. I think making things out of paper and popsicle sticks is overdone.”
The first-time event at the Batavia shop drew 16 kids and 11 adults.
Prairie Path Cycles co-owner and manager Mike Maravilla said the idea of making ornaments seemed like “a good way to recycle some old parts and have fun with it and we’re definitely surprised with the turnout we have.”
“Between the two shops we have here in Batavia and Winfield, we keep a lot of old parts but we wanted to sort of do a community outreach type of event,” Maravilla said Saturday. “It’s always good to get into the community and invite people into the shop and definitely have some fun. It’s a good time to do it right around the holidays.”
Maravilla said a lot chains, cogs, pulley wheels and other parts were cleaned to be used as ornaments.
“We formed some chains into candy cane shapes and other parts into star shapes and reindeer heads,” he said before the start of the program Saturday. “We are using the cogs and the pulley wheels, they sort of have a Christmas wreath shape, and once we cleaned all of those parts, we had them painted white so now they are ready to be decorated and kids can use glitter and different colored paints and little poofy balls they can glue to the pieces.”
Co-owner Mike Farrell said the main motivation “was to provide something else to the community beyond selling bicycles.”
“This is our first time doing this,” Farrell said of the ornament workshop. “This is more about Mike Maravilla and another employee at the Winfield store who decided to do this about a month or so ago. This is also a good way to recycle things. A lot of it gets pitched unless it’s a metal and we can get a guy to pick it up.”
He said the event was also a good way to get young people into the store.
“It gets kids into a bicycle shop. In today’s age, they need to be reminded there’s a difference between an e-bike and a real bicycle,” Farrell added. “The electric bikes are really just getting everybody’s attention as well as scooters and that’s not the only game in town. This maybe helps promote future cyclists.”
John Wahlers of Winfield and his grandson Colter Bennion, 10, of St. Charles, knew what they were getting into Saturday when they stepped into the shop, the first to arrive before both craft tables were packed 20 minutes later.
“I think this is a clever idea, recycling parts, and Colter likes building stuff and putting things together,” Wahlers said as he and his grandson entered the shop.
“I like doing art projects and building things,” Colter said. “When I get home with the ornament I’ll probably put it in my room. I think a wheel would be too big for a tree.”
Lynn Nelson of North Aurora brought her grandsons and said that Prairie Path Cycles is her “go-to bike shop.”
“When I saw this on an email I was like, I’m in,” she said of the ornament-making event. “I’ve got grandkids and they’re going to love it. This is right up their alley.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.