It’s time to get active and learn a little bit of Black history while also supporting Black-Owned businesses. Thanks to Bike and Brunch Tours, you can do all three within a few hours time.
Owner LaKeisha Henderson has always been aligned with the community and wanted to pay it forward. Her parents always reminded her to get to know her culture and acknowledge the past, then build on it.
As an architect by trade, she often did work in her community from a design standpoint. But she knew there was more that could be done. She would often encounter people coming into certain spaces and create experiences in communities that they weren’t necessarily fond of. But she was.
As a way to fill a void, and change the narrative around historically Black communities in cities she had personal ties to, she started her company.
Bike and Brunch Tours hosts biking excursions in Baltimore, Richmond, and Charlotte, cities with rich cultures and interconnections to each other.
“Our mission is to change and broaden the narrative around historically Black communities,” LaKeisha told Travel Noire. “I’m not aiming for places that already have an oversaturation of tours but those that are hidden secrets with ties to significant cultural references.”
The tours are lead by youth within the respective community as a way to make it all a community effort. It is a way for like-minded people to join together and also inspire others to become actively engaged in their community. It’s all about reclaiming spaces.
Tours in Charlotte and Richmond also include an artist from the area to curate tours and bring awareness to some of the culturally relevant artwork in the city.
Once the biking part of the tour is over, participants patron a Black or brown owned business in the area.
The group tour season just wrapped up in Charlotte. But they will be back again in April 2020. Baltimore tours are set to be hosted weekly, while those in Charlotte and Richmond will only be once a month. Private tours can be booked year-round.
If you are looking for similar tours or excursions in international destinations, Bike and Brunch Tours can curate those as well.
To learn more check them out on Instagram at @bikeandbrunchtours or via their website: bikeandbrunchtours.com
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