Salt Spring will be bicycle-heaven-on-earth, the most welcoming place on the planet to be on a bike, between June 21 and June 23, 2012. There will be fun, games and knowledge exchanged when the largest of BC’s Gulf Islands transforms itself into Velo Village.
The BIKE FERRY is the big event that everyone will want to be part of. On Saturday, June 23, BC’s first bicycle-only vessel sails for Velo Village. The MV Skeena Queen will carry 400 cyclists from Swartz Bay to Fulford Harbour where they’ll be joined by local cyclists for a 15km Fun Ride to the Velo Village Hub in Ganges.
And what a ride it will be! The cycle route will be decorated with dozens of beautiful hand painted bikes. Created by local artists and amateurs both, the bikes will guide riders along the winding rural country roads of Salt Spring Island.
The three-day Velo Village event has something for everyone. The Canadian Premiere of Reveal the Path will be shown on Thursday evening and art produced by 24 Salt Spring artists will be auctioned off at a gala event at ArtSpring Friday evening.
On Saturday, cyclists can leave their bikes with the Velo Village parking and valet service and walk to bike-themed and powered performances, take in vintage bike and cycling photo and art exhibits at ArtSpring and participate in electric bike, cycle tourism, bike economics and rural safe cycling workshops.
The centerpiece for bike advocates is Friday’s Cycling and Rural Mobility Conference at ArtSpring where speakers from the Pacific Northwest and beyond will share solutions for connecting city cyclists with their country cousins and supporting safe, seamless cycling connectivity between urban and rural communities.
Velo Village is an official pre-conference event to Velo-City 2012 and is coordinated by Island Pathways. Island Pathways is a Salt Spring not-for-profit organization that has been working for almost 25 years in support of safe and accessible pedestrian and cycling services and facilities and Salt Spring Island.
For more information and to register, visit http://velovillage.ca/ and email velovillage2012@gmail.com .