TOUR de FAT: Boise, Idaho USA - Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009 held in Ann Morrison Park. The event featured a cavalcade of two-wheeled celebrations which encouraged everyone to leave their cars at home and honor everything bike, courtesy of the kind folks at New Belgium Brewing Company, Fort Collins, Colorado.
http://www.newbelgium.com/
The party started with the costumed bike parade, which sent over 2,000 riders into the streets of downtown Boise for what organizers called a rolling carnival of creativity.
Ann Morrison Park was the hub of activity throughout the day, with live musical performances featuring March Fourth Marching Band http://www.marchfourthmarchingband.com/ , Sean Hayes, Squirm Burpee Circus, The Sprockettes and Dovekins all enjoyed by an enthusiastic audience of over 6,500 attendees (with zero incidents.)
Keeping with Tour de Fats environmentally friendly message, performances were done on a solar-powered stage that's decorated with recycled materials and brought to Boise on trucks fueled by biofuel.
Over 140 Volunteers from the Southwest Idaho Mountain Bike Association http://www.swimba.org/ hocked over 90 kegs of beer (from New Belgium Brewery, of course) and assorted merchandise. Participants were encouraged to spend freely, since all proceeds from beer and merchandise sales went to SWIMBA, TVCA http://www.biketreasurevalley.org/ and Boise Bike Project.
The Boise Bicycle Project was on hand throughout the day collecting assorted bike parts, which the nonprofit organization will use to rebuild bikes for kids from low-income families and refugees. http://www.boisebicycleproject.org/Welcome.html
The afternoons highlight was the Carpocalypse Now, a funeral procession for the Ford truck donated by local resident who volunteered to give up his vehicle for one year. In exchange the now-autoless individual he was given a custom made commuter bike from Black Sheep. He's vowed to stay out of his truck and keep pedaling for an entire year! The truck title was signed over to SWIMBA for charity auction.
Representatives and vendors from throughout the community were on hand throughout the day, and organizers welcomed everyone is even the non-bikers.
SWIMBA, TVCA, and the Boise Bike Project collectively raised over $42,000 with those funds headed back into helping the Boise biking community. It was all accomplished with an over 90% waste diversion rate from the trash created by the 6,500 people in attendance. That's a lot of trash that didn't go into the land fill.
Back in 2000, Tour de Fat started by visiting only a few cities. In spite of still being a small tour , they have managed to utilize their "ballyhoo of bikes and beer" to raise large quantities of money for good causes. Since their operation began, New Belgium has donated over $1.6 million to organizations in the communities where they distribute beer.
Tour de Fat is not just a modern rendition of a vaudevillian revival--it's the revival of interpersonal contacts, the most non-commercial commercial event anyone could go to.
R I C H M O N D video P R O D U C A T I O N S
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Dogman Presents March Fourth Marching Bandby DogmanDave15,377 views
Fantastic - Love Tour de FAT!
ynottonycom 5 months ago
Nice work!!!
NBBFILMS 2 years ago
Alsome!!!!
bwatt2004 2 years ago
Thanks Dude! Heroic effort. You should send this to new belgium, as they still don't have video of Boise ;) Thanks again, Car Trader Sam
sfox10 2 years ago
A really great video of the Fat Tire event in Boise!!
That special effect near the end was well worth the time and effort. Great job promoting bicycling after the recent bike tragedies in Boise.
idajim1 2 years ago 2