The winning project of the Farmville Downtown SOUP contest has come to fruition and is being put to good use.

Eleven bicycle parking hoops — fixed to parking meters up and down Main Street in downtown Farmville, embedded with the town’s seal — have been purchased and installed using $2,500 won by Longwood University visiting assistant professor of philosophy Dr. Charles Repp’s idea for bicycle parking.

“I think the racks look great,” Repp said. “I’m very pleased with the way they turned out, and grateful to the Farmville Downtown Partnership (especially John Burton), Longwood University and the Town of Farmville for helping to bring the idea to fruition. I’ll be even more pleased when I start to see bicycles locked to them.”

The circular parking hoops are scattered along Main Street from Crute Stage to the High Bridge Trail Plaza, according to Farmville Downtown Partnership Program Manager John Burton.

“I think the bicycle parking hoops make a nice addition to downtown Farmville,” Burton said. “The High Bridge Trail brings many people across our downtown and showing we are bicycle friendly will encourage them to stay and experience Farmville.”

Farmville Town Manager Gerald Spates agreed.

“With the High Bridge Trail (and) the amount of people (who) are coming with bicycles, I think it will just add a little different perspective to it. I think they were kind of neat the way they were designed. I think it’ll add some to the downtown,” Spates said.

He also thinks the parking hoops will increase foot traffic for businesses downtown.

According to Burton, the grant money paid for the design, creation and shipping of the parking rings, which were made by Creative Metalworks LLC, “who specialize in this style of bicycle parking.”

“Adding bicycle parking promotes yet another mode of transportation for visiting downtown Farmville,” Farmville Mayor David Whitus said. “And that is especially important since we have a major walking/biking trail running through our town. It allows the bikers a place to park their bikes while they patronize our local businesses.”

Farmville Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Joy Stump called the project a wonderful addition to the town.

“After people ride the High Bridge Trail, or just come into town on their bikes, they can now find a spot to leave their bicycles safely while they eat a meal or go shopping. I think it will encourage people who come to town to ride, to stay and enjoy themselves as there will be no worries about what to do with their bikes after.”

The SOUP event, held at the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts in downtown Farmville, which raised the grant funds through a sit-down meal during the event (bowls of soup), also netted grant money for bistro tables and chairs along Main Street and a READ Farmville book cart in association with the Virginia Children’s Book Festival.