ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Santa Fe Brewing Company had its first “Pedals & Petals” bike and garden party Saturday.

Aside from the biking and gardening, Santa Fe Brewing Company also wanted to give back.

“We’re raising money for four nonprofits: Cornucopia, Sembrando Salud, Story Writers and Food is Free Albuquerque,” said Jake Cascio, a Santa Fe Brewery Company event coordinator. “We really wanted to bring awareness to these four organizations because of all the great work that they do in the community.”

Santa Fe Brewing Company is encouraging New Mexicans to get outside as the temps warm up.

Cascio explained their bike and garden party falls in line with the brewery’s ideals. 

“It’s all about promoting outdoor recreation through gardening and bicycle riding, things that are really important to New Mexico, and to Santa Fe Brewery. We have a program called 4NM that focuses on environmental issues, food scarcity issues, and community issues. We’re kind of hitting all three all on one here on this event,” said Cascio. 

Some of the nonprofits have been in the community for a while, but many still don’t know about them. Events like these help they get that exposure.

“A lot of people don’t know we exist, and they can find out that we, like there’s somebody that will help harvest their fruit trees and take their excess produce and do something good with it. And a lot of people are really interested in the seed share,” said Anna Wheeler, a harvest volunteer with Food is Free Albuquerque. 

Wheeler explained the nonprofit has an annual seed share where New Mexicans can get free vegetable, fruit, or wildflower seeds. This year it falls on April 20.

Several people were out on Saturday, including the Clark family. For them, biking runs in the family.

“We ride all the time in the city. We’re bike commuters, we’re regular cyclists. So we just wanted to support Albuquerque cycling,” said Phil Clark. 

So far, $2,000 was raised for the nonprofits. The money will be distributed evenly among the groups.

Santa Fe Brewing Company says they plan to do this event annually.