Tour de Fat

The Quick and Easy:

What: New Belgium Brewing’s traveling celebration of all things bicycle
When: Saturday, August 2, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Where: Gas Works Park
Why: To Celebrate Pedal Power

Tour de Fat, New Belgium Brewing’s traveling celebration of all things bicycle, is cycling into Seattle once again. The festival spreads the good word about the myriad benefits of cycling and celebrates mankind’s greatest invention…the bike.

“Tour de Fat is all things ridiculous” said Chris Winn, Tour de Fat’s coordinator and event evangelist. “You’ll find costumes everywhere, art bikes you wouldn’t think you can ride (but can) and great entertainment.”

Over the last eight years, Tour de Fat has captured the imagination of thousands with record-setting parades, eye-popping entertainment, death-defying contests of bicycle skill and precision, and, of course, New Belgium beer. The tour runs through October, with eleven stops across the west.

June 21: Chicago, IL
July 19: San Francisco, CA
July 26 : Truckee, CA
Aug. 2: Seattle, WA
Aug. 16: Portland, OR
Aug. 23: Boise, ID
Sept. 6: New Belgium Brewing (Ft. Collins, CO)
Sept. 13: Denver, CO
Sept. 20: Durango, CO
Oct. 11: Tempe, AZ
Oct. 18: Austin, TX

Opening each show with a costumed bike parade, Tour de Fat celebrates the power of the bike. Born in Ft. Collins, Colorado to increase awareness and participation in cycling as a sustainable form of transportation, Tour de Fat has grown into a national rite of passage for cycling advocates and bon vivants alike.

Schedule:

9:00 a.m. - Bike Parade Registration
10:00 a.m. - Bike Parade
11:00 a.m. – Bike parade riders return – Welcome Announcements (opening of beer garden)
11:30 a.m. - “Slow-Down or Throw-Down” - Slow-Ride Competition
12:00 p.m. - Performances Begin – Pancake juggler, circus tricks, and amazing feats workshop
12:20 p.m. – Paper Bird (1st band)
1:30 p.m. - “Carpocalypse Now” Funeral procession for the car belonging to the Car-for-Bike Vol.
2:00 p.m. – The Sprocketts – Portlands mini-bike dance troupe
2:40 p.m. – March Fourth Marching Band
3:30 p.m. – Car-for-Bike Trade Celebration
4:00 p.m. - Curtain Closes

Bands:
Paper Bird,
MarchFourth Marching Band,
Nanda 
The Sprockettes


As part of Tour de Fat’s Car-for-Bike Trade program, one volunteer will commit to live car-free for one year. The dedicated individual will sign over their car title and receive a hand-built New Belgium commuter bike in exchange. The selected candidate will chronicle the trials and triumphs along their car-free journey. The volunteer is chosen after submitting a video or essay describing their desire to live car-free.

For more information, log onto http://www.followyourfolly.com/pdf/biketrade.pdf. For last year’s swap in Seattle go to http://www.followyourfolly.com/folly_tour_de_fat.html and then click on videos.

Tour de Fat is free to participants, but beer and merchandise proceeds from the Seattle stop will go to The Bicycle Alliance of Washington, which promotes cycling and advocates for bicyclists and Bike Works, an organization that educates youth about the benefits of cycling and provides affordable bicycle services for Seattle residents. New Belgium’s philanthropic cycling circus helped 26 non-profit organizations in 2007 and raised more than $245,000.