12 Nov, 2013
New community cycling festival announced today
The State Government and City of Adelaide today announced a new community cycling festival to be launched next year that will see the city filled with events and activities that are related to bikes and cycling.
Road Safety Minister Michael O’Brien and City of Adelaide Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood said the first ever “Velo-Fringe” will run alongside the Adelaide Velo-city Global 2014 international cycling conference to be held in May next year.
Mr O’Brien said Velo-Fringe was an opportunity to increase awareness in the community about cycling and raise Adelaide’s profile as a cycling-friendly city.
“Velo-Fringe will be like the Adelaide Fringe, just all about bikes,” Mr O’Brien said.
“It will be an exciting celebration of what’s great about bike riding, and just like the Adelaide Fringe, it will be open access so anyone can be a part of it.
“A highlight will be the free event where some city streets will be closed to traffic and taken over by bikes.
“It will be open to everyone and all types of riders and bikes, from dragsters to BMX bikes and classic bicycles.”
Velo-Fringe will be open access and for a small fee, anyone can create an activity and register to put it on. Individuals, community groups and businesses are all welcome to apply, including those in regional areas. Activities will be listed in an online program, a printed guide and an App.
A broad range of ideas and events are expected to be proposed, some of which will be free for people to attend or participate in.
To coincide with today’s announcement, a competition to design a logo for the Velo-Fringe festival was launched.
The winning design will feature throughout the festival and entrants will also go in the running to win a $600 voucher from bike store Giant.
Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood said that Velo-Fringe would show how enjoyable cycling can be and highlight the diversity of bike riders in South Australia.
“Cycling is a quick and cheap way to get around, it keeps you fit and healthy, it’s environmentally friendly but it’s also terrific fun. Velo-Fringe will be a celebration of all those things,” Stephen said.
“It will also demonstrate what cycling can bring to a city. More people out and about leads to more activity in the streets which all helps to build a sense of community.”
The seven broad types of activities proposed are events, bike rides, bike tours, visual art and design, children’s events, music and film.
“Examples could be a night market, bike swapmeet, cycling fashion – anything at all as long as it relates in some way to bikes and cycling,” Stephen said.
“Velo-Fringe will be filled with many different, exciting, fun and unique events and will see our city buzzing with activity while creating awareness in the community about cycling, and encourage more people to give bike riding a go.”
Velo-Fringe will run from the 18 - 30 May. Registrations will be open from the 24 January 2014. To find out more about Velo-Fringe and the design-a-logo competition, go to http://www.velo-city2014.com/pages/velo-fringe.php