MATTAPOISETT — Almost 400 bicyclists took to the streets and paths of the Tri-Town on Sunday, May 21 to enjoy scenery and cremaries during the 2023 Tour-de-Creme. 

The Tour-de-Creme is a fundraising event hosted by the Mattapoisett Land Trust and the Friends of the Mattapoisett Bike Path. 

This year’s event marks the fifth Tour-de-Creme. 

The ride was organized into three separate divisions: 40 miles, 24 miles and nine miles. 

Each route made stops at South Coast creameries including Captain Bonney’s and Robin’s Nest in Rochester and Country Whip in Acushnet. 

“Really, it’s a community event,” said Friends of the Mattapoisett Bike Path Vice President Jane Finnerty. “It's about getting the community out on the brand new bike path … and [showing] our beautiful area to the people that are from out of town.”

Each division saw riders leave from the Mattapoisett Town Beach and embark on the newly finished bike path that spans the Mattapoisett River estuary.

The Mattapoisett bike path “has never connected with the center of town before,” said Finnerty, whose favorite flavor of ice cream is coffee. “It doesn’t get better than that because you’re feeding [riders] out of the town, right onto the bike path.”

The section of the bike path connecting Reservation Road with the center of town was officially opened to the public on Friday, April 28 after a nearly 30-year effort. 

For bicyclists Karen Nutter and Tom Nutter, the 40-mile bike route through the Tri-Town was “flat and fabulous.”

The duo took a break at Captain Bonney’s Ice Cream for scoops of cookies and cream and coffee ice cream before setting off to complete the route. 

According to Finnerty, this year’s Tour-de-Creme was more of a “group effort” than previous years’ events. 

“The Friends of the Bike Path has traditionally been a smaller group of people, whereas the land trust was a larger group of people, so they carried more of the weight,” said Finnerty. “The Friends of the Bike Path is much better represented this year.”

The Tour-de-Creme had approximately 76 volunteers who represented the Friends of the Mattapoisett Bike Path, the Mattapoisett Land Trust and others who just wanted to lend a hand. 

“It’s really pulled a lot of people together,” said Finnerty. “It's been a great group to be involved with, we're all basically doing this because we have a love of what we're doing.”

The ride ended with a party at the Mattapoisett Land Trust’s Munro Preserve, complete with live music and food provided by Oxford Creamery.

According to the event’s website, the Tour-de-Creme raised $16,234.69 that will go toward maintaining Mattapoisett Land Trust preserves and completing the next sections of the Mattapoisett bike path.

There are three more phases of the path yet to be built that will connect Mattapoisett to Marion, said Finnerty. 

“There is a committee assigned to work on this, there is an engineering group that is working on it,” said Finnerty. “So that’s like a three-year process.”

The goal, she said, is to eventually connect “Providence to Provincetown ... and there’s a lot of work to do.”

Finnerty said that even though the future phases of the bike path need to “get all worked out,” the current path offers great views of South Coast scenery. 

“Not only do we have a safe space [to ride bikes],” said Finnerty. “We have a safe space that looks out on a beautiful part of the country.”