By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

PREBLE COUNTY, Ohio — The annual Buckeye Bridge Bicycle Tour will be June 23, leaving from Eaton. The ride is sponsored by Preble County Farm Bureau.

“Farm Bureau does it to get people out into the countryside to see the beauty and the diverse landscape that Preble County has to offer, and especially to showcase Preble County’s seven covered bridges,” said Mandy Havenar, Ohio Farm Bureau’s organization director for Preble, Darke and Miami counties. “Sometimes people put out farm machinery; the riders pass cattle in the fields.”

All proceeds go to the United Way and the money stays in Preble County, Havenar said. This is the fourth year for the ride, which was the brainchild of Keith Schmidt, Preble County Farm Bureau member, farmer and bicycle rider.

In fact, Schmidt and others, encouraged by Farm Bureau, have been leading 10- to 30-mile rides every Saturday morning. The distance depends on the skill level of the riders, Havenar said. They want the riders to enjoy the rural countryside and, also, to promote the covered-bridge tour.

For information, write Amy Daugherty, Preble Co. Farm Bureau, PO Box 83, Eaton, OH 45320; call 937-456-5400; or visit www.buckeyebridgebikeride.com

This farm news was published in the June 13, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.