(Photo: djfisher74 on Instagram)
Estimates from ride organizers put the crowds at tonight’s Pedalpalooza Kickoff Parade at 300-500 people. Esther Harlow says at one point on N. Mississippi Avenue, the parade of people stretched four abreast from Fremont to Skidmore (five blocks).
The ride wound from Northeast Portland to Overlook Park via the Mississippi District. At the park, bike-based food vendors awaited and a picnic and more fun was had by all.
Read the ride recap below submitted just a few minutes ago by Harlow:
“Wow. Way to kick it off, people. About 3-500 people showed up in fabulous costumes (my personal favorite: Safety Man, with a neon yellow shorts romper and neon yellow sneakers, and a big smile on his face the whole time. There was also a witch! And Elly B in a fabulous dress, though we wondered how she could ride in it…). The Taco Pedalers had showed up to sling some awesome tacos for the hungry masses before the ride departed.
The Schwinn Belligerante gang led the ride, with regular hoots and hollers and rounden’ em ups, and by the way, at the end they hauled up the Weiner Wagon —a giant wagon with a grill on it, roasting their homemade sausages.
Sound systems included a Bullitt sound system and a small barbecue made into a sound system. Some clouds had covered the formerly blue sky, but nevertheless we enjoyed warm evening light as we rode off into the west for five miles, detouring via Alberta and Mississippi to wave to the beer-drinkers en route. Bells, cheering, yelling, the de rigeur kickoff ride stuff. It was pretty amazing to be told at the front of the ride that it stretched 6 blocks back! When we took Mississippi from Fremont to Skidmore, there were people already on Skidmore as people were still turning off Fremont.
There the Taco Pedallers were awaiting us again, along with Eatin’ Alive’s pedal powered vegan-gluten-free yummy treats cart, and Icicle Tricycle with frozen goodies.
Hula Hoopla had pedalled a dozen hula hoops on her amazing hula-hoop-conveyer-trailer and she did some awesome hoop dancing and tricks and shared hoops with everyone! The kids of all ages jumped on the see-saws and swings at the adjacent playground.
The clouds lifted from the horizon just in time for an amazing sunset over Forest Park. It was just lovely to see everyone chilling out and enjoying the evening together after a mellow bike ride! Some people were playing badminton, some were playing frisbee, others were doing pullups on the bars, some brought their own BBQ and were grilling up food, the Weiner Wagon was smokin’, friends were puppy piling on picnic blankets, and at one point a group of us corked a sound system to prevent it from leaving by having a dance party around it…”
Here are a few shots of the ride I found via the Pedalpalooza Twitter feed…
