NORWAY — New bike racks springing up around downtown are the result of a grant obtained through Norway Downtown.

Andrea Burns, president of Norway Downtown, said the $30,000 grant came from the Healthy Maine Street Program, funded by Maine Downtown Center Development Foundation. Money was also used to hire a program director, purchase walking maps of downtown and fund other programs.

The program is the result of a collaboration between the Maine Downtown Center and MCD Public Health and is made possible by a $1.64 million grant through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Community Transformation Grants.

Angela Harvey, owner of the Green Machine Bike Shop in Norway, was hired as the local program director.

Harvey told a group of Healthy Maine Street officials at a workshop in June that Norway has a lot of bicyclists in the area, and more than 300 bike riders coming to town on Sept. 7 as part of the BikeMaine bike tour.

“We’re excited about it,” said Burns of the funding. “This has reinforced our work on Main Street.”

The Healthy Maine Street programs connects small businesses with creative opportunities to make healthy choices and enhance the vitality of a downtown.

“Our goal is a change of culture,” Burns said.

Norway, one of 19 Healthy Maine Street communities, is installing bike racks  downtown as a wellness strategy to increase physical activity opportunities.

Each one of the Healthy Maine Streets communities is required to designate at least one wellness strategy to increase access to physical activity opportunities. Three towns, Machias, Kennebunk and Eastport, have implemented a bike-share program.

The first three racks have been placed at Nomad Cafe, near L.F. Pike & Son store and in Witherell Park, the site of the town’s Civil War Monument.

Four more bike racks will be coming. They will be installed at the Norway Opera House, Tucker’s Music Pub, the Town Office and near Longley’s Hardware.

ldixon@sunjournal.com