By Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer Published Apr 24, 2024 at 11:29 AM

Once again the Lake Express Ferry is seeking donations of gently used bicycles and will give the first 500 donors a free round-trip passenger ticket for the Lake Michigan ferry as a thank you.

Lake Express will collect bikes to benefit health programs provided through the Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers on Friday, April 26 from 8 a.m. until noon at its Bay View terminal, 2330 S. Lincoln Memorial Dr.

A typical round trip ticket on Lake Express – which launched in June 2004 – runs about $193, and the ferry’s 2024 season kicks off on Friday, May 3.

The bikes collected will be distributed ast Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers annual Bike Day, slated for June 15 at Kosciuszko Park.

Since it began collecting bikes in 2010, Lake Express has helped distribute more than 8,000 bikes via nonprofits in Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago and around the globe.

The small print: Donors can deliver a gently used bicycle on Friday, April 26th to the Lake Express Ferry terminal. There is a limit of one certificate per person/household. Donors will receive a certificate by mail, redeemable for one round-trip classic cabin ticket. Vouchers are valid only for the donor and may not be transferred or sold. Vouchers may be redeemed for any travel date/time during the 2024 sailing season. Reservations are required and must be made by June 28, 2024.

For more information on the ferry, visit lake-express.com.

Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.

He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.

With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.

He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.

In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.

He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.