Don't Miss the 2nd Annual Bicycle Festival in Jefferson - THIS WEEKEND!

The Second Annual Bicycle Festival in Jefferson is this weekend, and it includes PIGS on bikes! What more could we ask for?

The second annual Iowa Bicycle Festival is being held this weekend (Aug. 9-11) in Jefferson with a full line-up of activities, all aimed at “celebrating the bicycle and those who ride it.”

It starts Friday evening with a 6:30 p.m. bicycle cruise of the town from the courthouse square, followed by an ice cream social there.  Saturday begins with an 8 a.m. bike ride on the Raccoon River Valley Trail, and an 11 a.m. parade of bikes and RAGBRAI team buses.  In the parade, an attempt is going to be made to break the U.S. record for the most recumbent tricycles coupled together in a “trike train” – the current record is 23.  There will be a full afternoon of live music, food and cycling fun on the square.

At 1 p.m., longtime Jefferson residents and cyclists Don and Jean Van Gilder will lead a bicycle tour of the town’s attractions.  An acclaimed, 21-year-old graffiti artist Taylor Smith, of Spencer, will lead the public in doing a new paint job on the RAGBRAI bus of Team Curbside, of Panora.  The featured musical act is a 2 p.m. concert on the courthouse lawn by Stan Dahl & the Tropical Steel Drum Band, from Des Moines. A free watermelon feed will be held during the concert. And there will be displays of classic bicycles, cycling history, bicycle-themed art and a fashion show of bicycle apparel.

Sunday morning, there will be a ride at 8 a.m. leaving the Jefferson Depot to a pancake breakfast hosted in Grand Junction by that community’s Lions Club.

A club of tandem bicycle riders known as the PIGS, which stands for “Paired Iowans Going Somewhere,” are having their 19^th annual summertime rally in Jefferson as part of the bicycle festival.  About 30 teams of PIGS – or 60 people – are coming from all over Iowa as well as from Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri.

The festival is organized by the Cyclists Of Greene (COG), the bike club in Greene County.  A  full list of events is available at  www.iowabicyclefestival.com.

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