We are pleased to announce that Cycle Oregon will be celebrated as AFO’s 2010 Honored “Citizen” on Tuesday evening, September 28, at the Oregon Convention Center.

Most of us know Cycle Oregon as ‘the ride’ – the week-long bicycle ride that crisscrosses Oregon on a new route each year. Riders have dubbed it “The Best Bike Ride in America.” Organizers say that is because it delivers the best combination of scenery, challenge, amenities, camaraderie and philanthropy of any ride out there for its 2,000 annual participants.

But there is much more to know about Cycle Oregon, including its tremendous gifts to Oregon, and to Oregon’s built environment. As with past Honored Citizen Dinners, we are looking forward to telling the full story for our AFO family members who look forward to this evening each fall. Key to AFO’s selection of Cycle Oregon as this year’s honoree is the way it touches and connects communities, large and small, all across Oregon.

Whether through the routing of the week-long ride itself, through the “tent city” villages that are erected for overnight stays in towns along the way, through the hospitality that these areas provide to the 2,000+ riders, or through the Cycle Oregon Fund which cycles monetary support back to these communities through its annual grants. From small grants for grange hall improvements in the tiny Wheeler County town of Spray, for restoration of the Elgin Opera House, the Butte Falls Community Center, the Athena American Legion Hall, and preservation of the Historic Columbia River Highway to major gifts given to the picturesque town of Halfway and to the Kum Wah Chung & Co. Museum, Cycle Oregon is leaving tracks of philanthropy to support infrastructure all across Oregon.

Cycle Oregon has earned AFO’s highest honor for these and many more contributions it has made to Oregon’s built environment. We will pay tribute to Cycle Oregon for:

• its celebration of the richness of Oregon’s landscapes, its small towns and the open spaces between them
• its enhancement of Oregon’s livability by encouraging people to see Oregon by bike
• its strengthening of rural communities by providing a party on their Main Streets and making their cash registers ring
• its gifts to important architectural and infrastructure treasures throughout Oregon
• the way it forms connections between metropolitan and rural Oregon

Please join us on September 28 to hear and celebrate the whole story!

Past AFO Honored Citizen recipients include:

2009 Dave Frohnmayer

2008 John Gray
2007 Congressman Earl Blumenauer
2006 Bob Gerding
2005 Urban Naturalist, Mike Houck
2004 Robert J. Frasca, FAIA
2003 Philanthropist, Jean Vollum
2002 OHSU President, Dr. Peter O. Kohler
2001 Glass Artist, Ed Carpenter
2000 1000 Friends of Oregon
1999 Neil Goldschmidt, Mayor of Portland, Governor of Oregon
1998 Sculptor and Painter, Tom Hardy
1997 Senator Mark O. Hatfield, United States Senator, Governor of Oregon
1996 AIA Gold Medallist Pietro Belluschi, FAIA
1995 Dr. Francis Newton, Portland Art Museum Director
1994 Landscape Architect, Barbara Fealy, FASLA
1993 Wood Sculptor, Leroy Setziol

2009 AFO Honored Citizen Sponsors

Sponsors
The Daily Journal of Commerce
Lease Crutcher Lewis

Supporting Sponsors
Interface Engineering

Table Sponsors
Benson Industries
Bergelectric
Carr Construction
Catena Consulting Engineers
Columbia Wire & Iron
Dull Olson Weekes Architects
Fortis Construction
Geffen Mesher
Glumac
Group Mackenzie
Howard S. Wright
JH Kelly
Jeld-Wen
Kibble & Prentice/USI NW
KPFF
McKinstry
NECA/IBEW
Oregon Electric Group
Otak
PAE Consulting Engineers, Inc.
School of Fine & Performing Arts, Portland State University
Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt
Skanska
Sparling
SRG Partnership
Stoel Rives
THA Architects
TVA Architecture
Turner Construction
University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts
UO University Advancement and Portland Development
Walker Macy
Yost Grube Hall Architecture
Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects

Supporting Table Sponsors
BOORA Architetcs, Inc.
DeaMore Associates, Inc.
GBD Architects
Gerding/Edlen
Group Mackenzie
Hennebery Eddy Architects
Mayer/Reed
Perkins & Company
Susan Emmons Studio
Shorenstein Realty Services

Contributors
Anthony Belluschi, FAIA
Timothy P. Boyle
Columbia Wire & Iron
Keith Johnson, AIA
Kimberly S. Silva-DuBose
TVA Architects
Kelly Perso Design
Precision Images