Bike riders on a Saturday morning outing will be able to take their bikes to a quiet setting of trees and grass near Fletcher’s Boat House and receive a brief blessing from the Rev. Mary Kay Totty of Dumbarton United Methodist Church of Georgetown
The unique, nondenominational ceremony comes at a time when statistics show biking is on the increase in the Washington area and bike sharing programs are becoming successful.
Bike blessings are unusual but not unheard of. They are a regular ceremony at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York and at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles . Even car blessings are conducted by Buddhists in Japan. We can find no record of such a ceremony in the Washington area.
For the blessing on May 12, Fletcher’s Cove can be reached by motorists by driving about a mile from Georgetown down Canal Road to an entrance on the left. For cyclists, it is a spot along both the C&O Canal and the Capital Crescent bike trail.