What’s new at the market is yet another budding business — this one is a nonprofit bike shop.

Nathan Van Laningham has begun this new journey with the aim of increasing bike culture in Sequim. With a passion for cycling that took flight just three years ago, he envisions increased ridership, safety, education for youth and adults as well as empowering folks to maintain their cycles and providing assistance when needed.

He currently has a mobile shop that comes to the market each Saturday. He has tools and a bike stand onsite. For a fee he will give your bike a tuneup or you can share the resources he has to work on your bike yourself.

It was this February when he heard All Around Bikes was closing their doors. The group of cyclists he rides with regularly began to envision a bike cooperative. They didn’t want to open a store front, but rather a bike based community center.

They have three key points of focus to their nonprofit; society (as in public health), the environment (less cars = less impact) and the economy (bikes make good economic sense in many situations).

Nathan reflected on how much money, space and resources are enabling cars: “There is a huge demand to support vehicles,” he says.

With no greenhouse gases coming from bikes, there are health benefits, he says, that “are efficient calorie wise,” and that it seems like we ought to allocate more funds that would enable bicyclists to safely share the road with car drivers.

Bike Works officially received nonprofit status this July.

Van Laningham is in discussion with the City of Sequim staff to see if there is a civic location they could share with him. There are some ideas emerging, so stay tuned. Stay updated on www.facebook.com/SequimBikeWorks/.

This business is in a formative moment. Volunteers are needed. There are opportunities to refurbish old bikes, teach classes on bike maintenance and safety, to be present at the market sharing information and bike assistance to name a few. Donations are also needed to help kick start more efforts.

Ideally, Bike Works would have a central downtown location. As a nonprofit, if anyone is sympathetic towards this effort and has space to share, please contact Van Laningham. He is at the market each Saturday on Cedar Street, or can be reached at 360-670-1037.

We are thrilled to have Bike Works at Sequim Farmers Market. Come down and connect with this fantastic effort, bring your creaky bike and get your ride rolling nice and smooth.

Jake Reichner will be playing live music from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., so come enjoy this talented local musician.

See you at the market!