Bikers gear up for ice cream at sixth annual Tour de Creme
Bicyclists pedaled to ice cream shops across the South Coast as part of the sixth annual “Tour de Creme” Sunday, May 19. Photos by Erez Ben-Akiva 
Cyclists get started on the 45-mile route. Each of the three routes began at Mattapoisett Town Beach.
Bikers make their way down the 22-mile route.
Each route utilized the Mattapoisett Rail Trail.
The event raises funds for the Mattapoisett Land Trust and Friends of the Mattapoisett Rail Trail.
Cyclists on the 9-mile route travel past Shipyard Park towards the rail trail.
Bicyclists pedaled to ice cream shops across the South Coast as part of the sixth annual “Tour de Creme” Sunday, May 19. Photos by Erez Ben-Akiva
Cyclists get started on the 45-mile route. Each of the three routes began at Mattapoisett Town Beach.
Bikers make their way down the 22-mile route.
Each route utilized the Mattapoisett Rail Trail.
The event raises funds for the Mattapoisett Land Trust and Friends of the Mattapoisett Rail Trail.
Cyclists on the 9-mile route travel past Shipyard Park towards the rail trail.
MATTAPOISETT — Below 60 degrees with no sun in sight likely isn’t exactly the perfect day for ice cream.
But with several miles of biking under one’s belt, a stop — or two or three — at the local creamery was an easy call.
Hundreds of cyclists took part Sunday, May 19 in the sixth annual Tour de Creme, a bike tour themed around South Coast-area ice cream shops.
“It's delicious ice cream, so it’s hard to pass up,” Tour de Creme co-chair Jane Finnerty said.
The event was organized by and raised funds for the Mattapoisett Land Trust and Friends of the Mattapoisett Rail Trail.
The 2024 iteration of the tour had three different routes of nine, 22 and 45 miles each for cyclists to pedal through with stops at ice cream shops — like Captain Bonney’s Creamery and Robin’s Nest in Rochester and Seaport Slip in Mattapoisett — along the way.
Each route started at the Mattapoisett Town Beach and utilized the Mattapoisett Rail Trail.
Finnerty said she thinks the community has “embraced the rail trail and is excited to get out there.”
“I think it’s just made [the Tour de Creme] a very easy, fun thing for a family to do together,” Finnerty said. “I think the bike path being open has opened up the community to getting out there and cycling and walking and just enjoying the bike path.”
In using the bike path, cyclists on the nine- and 22-miles routes could reach creameries in Fairhaven while staying south of Route 6 the entire way. The 45-mile tour extended into Acushnet, Rochester, Lakeville and Middleboro.
As of Sunday, the event had raised more than $8,000, according to a fundraising page.
“It celebrates our town,” Finnerty said. “The funds go back to our town.”
Event Date
