Last Fall, I blogged about the Clips of Faith film festival that New Belgium Brewery brought to downtown Raleigh and how it benefited a local charity that buys new bikes for kids in need. Along with Clips of Faith, New Belgium also hosts several other tours that travel from city to city across the US to spread beers and cheers. The event that I consider to be the biggest, most kick-ass of them all is Tour de Fat - a traveling festival that hits 13 cites nationwide during the summer to spread the good word about the bicycle as a mode of transportation. While vacationing in San Francisco last fall, we missed the festival by a day as it was happening in Golden Gate Park while we are on our way to Seattle. The Tour de Fat is a combination bike parade, beer festival and carnival all rolled into one family friendly and fun event.
Than over the winter, I learned that New Belgium was considering bringing their festival to North Carolina for a stop in either Charlotte or the Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill). As an avid craft beer drinker, Asst. Organizer of Tri-Beer and Bike2Beer cyclist, I was invited to participate in a round table planning discussion with the folks from New Belgium who were in town to check out the area. We had a great meeting and I felt good that New Belgium would make the right choice and select either Raleigh or Durham for the event. In the end, they did and Durham is now the first stop on the 13 city tour this summer. Tour de Fat 2011 will launch at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham on Saturday, June 25th from 10am - 4p.
Besides promoting bicycling, the coolest part about Tour de Fat is that New Belgium funds the entire festival and donates the proceeds from beer and merchandise sales to selected local charities that support alternative transportation; namely the lovely bicycle. Each Tour de Fat festival stop starts with a bicycle parade open to ALL cyclists of all ages on all types of bicycles. The event is free to attend and participate in - wearing unusual costumes and riding unusual bicycles is encouraged! Following the four mile parade ride on the American Tobacco Trail, the festival than gets started with live music, New Belgium beer and a zany circus-like atmosphere.
One of the local charities that will benefit from Tour de Fat Durham is the Triangle Spokes Group - the same awesome charity that organized and benefited from Clips of Faith Raleigh. Triangle Spokes Group's mission is to purchase new bicycles for need-worthy children each Christmas season that would likely not receive them otherwise. Their co-founder and a friend of mine - Rich Nowalk again contacted me to help spread the word about the TdF Festival and solicit volunteers to help work at the event. They need approximately 50 volunteers from the area to help out with a variety of tasks on June 25. I've already volunteered as a bike marshal for the parade ride so I encourage you to volunteer your time as well. Volunteers receive a free t-shirt, free beer and the satisfaction of helping out with a kick-ass event that benefits the community. As of last Friday, they still needed 30 more volunteers.
For you road cyclists, TdF encourages you to ride from home to the festival in Durham and leave the car at home. As an avid beercyclist, I wholeheartedly agree!
No advance tickets or registration is required to participate, just show up early and register for the 10am ride/parade.
More info is available at the following links or you can just click HERE to volunteer and sign up now.
New Belgium Tour de Fat
Tour de Fat Durham
Triangle Spokes Group Announcement
Share / RSVP on Facebook Events
New Belgium Facebook Events calendar listing
New Belgium Tour de Fat video on YouTube
Than over the winter, I learned that New Belgium was considering bringing their festival to North Carolina for a stop in either Charlotte or the Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill). As an avid craft beer drinker, Asst. Organizer of Tri-Beer and Bike2Beer cyclist, I was invited to participate in a round table planning discussion with the folks from New Belgium who were in town to check out the area. We had a great meeting and I felt good that New Belgium would make the right choice and select either Raleigh or Durham for the event. In the end, they did and Durham is now the first stop on the 13 city tour this summer. Tour de Fat 2011 will launch at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham on Saturday, June 25th from 10am - 4p.
Besides promoting bicycling, the coolest part about Tour de Fat is that New Belgium funds the entire festival and donates the proceeds from beer and merchandise sales to selected local charities that support alternative transportation; namely the lovely bicycle. Each Tour de Fat festival stop starts with a bicycle parade open to ALL cyclists of all ages on all types of bicycles. The event is free to attend and participate in - wearing unusual costumes and riding unusual bicycles is encouraged! Following the four mile parade ride on the American Tobacco Trail, the festival than gets started with live music, New Belgium beer and a zany circus-like atmosphere.
One of the local charities that will benefit from Tour de Fat Durham is the Triangle Spokes Group - the same awesome charity that organized and benefited from Clips of Faith Raleigh. Triangle Spokes Group's mission is to purchase new bicycles for need-worthy children each Christmas season that would likely not receive them otherwise. Their co-founder and a friend of mine - Rich Nowalk again contacted me to help spread the word about the TdF Festival and solicit volunteers to help work at the event. They need approximately 50 volunteers from the area to help out with a variety of tasks on June 25. I've already volunteered as a bike marshal for the parade ride so I encourage you to volunteer your time as well. Volunteers receive a free t-shirt, free beer and the satisfaction of helping out with a kick-ass event that benefits the community. As of last Friday, they still needed 30 more volunteers.
For you road cyclists, TdF encourages you to ride from home to the festival in Durham and leave the car at home. As an avid beercyclist, I wholeheartedly agree!
No advance tickets or registration is required to participate, just show up early and register for the 10am ride/parade.
More info is available at the following links or you can just click HERE to volunteer and sign up now.
New Belgium Tour de Fat
Tour de Fat Durham
Triangle Spokes Group Announcement
Share / RSVP on Facebook Events
New Belgium Facebook Events calendar listing
New Belgium Tour de Fat video on YouTube
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