From Bike Pittsburgh, the ultimate Bike Party
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A day on a bike, a night at the opera.
BikeFest, which will feature 60 independently organized rides and events throughout the city, begins Friday with a fundraiser for Bike Pittsburgh at 8 p.m. at the Pittsburgh Opera (2425 Liberty Ave.) in the Strip District.
"This is our biggest fundraiser of the year and it will directly fund our work," said Scott Bricker, executive director of Bike Pittsburgh. That work includes "engineering bike lanes, providing bike racks to the city and producing award-winning publications like the Pittsburgh Bike Map and our illustrated Bike Commuting Guide 101."
The fundraiser party, complete with wine, beer and raffles, will be preceded by a VIP event that begins at 6:30 p.m. The latter will be catered by Salt of the Earth, which Bricker described as the "future Garfield restaurant owned by local star chef and cyclist Kevin Sousa." Live entertainment will be provided "by marimba virtuoso Marcus Kim."
Bricker said the main party features "J. Malls spinning funk and soul, while Edgar Um will close down the party with his signature mix of dance hits throughout the years."
There will be a silent auction, raffles "filled with bicycles," a Trek Travel trip donated by Trek of Pittsburgh, gear, bags, tickets to cultural events and more. Bricker said all proceeds benefit Bike Pittsburgh to enable it "to continually make the city more bicycle-friendly."
The 10-day festival, an annual celebration of biking and bike culture, has "something for everyone," Bricker said. "The bicycling community has stepped up in a big way to organize some really fun events."
Details and schedules can be found at www.bike-pgh.org/bikefest.
For more information, visit the website or contact Bricker at scott@bike-pgh.org or call 412-325-4334.
Pittsburgh Youth Leadership, which has been taking inner-city youngsters on all-expenses-paid long-distance bike rides since 2006, completed a 559-mile journey from Niagara Falls to western Maine.
First Published July 31, 2010 2:12 am
