Rye Airfield, New England's premier skatepark and BMX track is host to forty thousand kids of all ages per year, making us a sizable village. We like to use our influence on the young people that visit by stressing the importance of alternative sports options and education. Our experiences from working with school age children everyday have allowed us to recognize the lack of a tangible incentive to excel academically. It is for this reason that we created Read to Ride. A reading reward program that we make available to all public and school libraries in New England as a tool to motivate young readers year round.

The Read to Ride program is designed to encourage kids eighteen and under to read their way to free riding time at Rye Airfield. This is a proven program that fosters the relationship between librarians and children in the community while also providing a valuable reward. Participants can read a book on their own or have a book read to them in order to earn a bookmark. After a book is completed, librarians have the discretion to guide the reader in choosing one of three options in order to obtain a bookmark. These options include:

1. Writing a short essay/book review (1-2 paragraphs) about the book.
2. Provide a brief oral report about the book.
3. Draw a picture depicting the book they have read.

Kids can enjoy their free all day pass at Rye Airfield once they have collected five bookmarks, all they need to do is bring their bookmarks to Rye Airfield the day they wish to redeem them. Every participant is encouraged to read as many books as they would like in order to maximize the benefits of the program.

We also offer the following dates throughout the year for you to double the rewards to readers.
o February - I Love to Read Month
o March 2nd - Dr. Seuss's Birthday
o April (dates vary annually) - National Library Week
o October (dates vary annually) - Teen read week
o November (dates vary annually) - Children's' book week
o You may also select a week of your own design during which to double the rewards.

If you are interested in Read to Ride, please have your school or town librarian contact us so that we can send them a start up pack that includes a poster (actual size is 11x17), bookmarks, and information flyers (click each word to see an example of the piece).

We currently only work with librarians and cannot enroll individuals, you must work with a library.


Read to Ride is presented with support from Wild Waters and KTPX Sports

click here for printable version