Family illuminated bike ride is ready to go
It can’t be often that The Square in Palmerston North is used to launch a ship – if ever.
Tonight, a figurative bottle of bubbly will be metaphorically fragmented against the prow of The Comradeship, a willow and tissue-paper internally lit bikepowered road-travelling boat.
Created by Bridgette Murphy and Jim Richards from the Rangiwahia Environmental Arts Centre Trust (REACT), The Comradeship is a bike-towed float that was originally built for last year’s Light Nelson Festival, and has not yet been seen in Palmerston North.
‘‘It’s a big piece – 4 metres long, 1.5m wide and 1m high,’’ Richards said.
It will be one of the centrepieces for the city’s first Lit Night Bike Ride, part of Ecofest 2017.
The ride leaves from the clock tower at 7.30pm on a circuitous route through suburban back streets, along the bridle path, around the lagoon and back to The Square.
Another feature will be a large dragonfly the REACT pair have refurbished, stripping it back to its willow bones, installing new LED lights and remodelling and recovering the large insect.
‘‘We made it originally in a week-long workshop for the Taonui School Ugly Bug Ball at the Regent on Broadway in 2007,’’ Richards said.
Murphy said the ride could be likened to the annual Festival of Cultures lantern parade, only on bicycles and with a much longer range.
There would be lights, lanterns, fairy lights, glitter and sparkle, Murphy said.
‘‘It will be unlike anything Palmy has seen before and really will be rather special,’’ Murphy said.
A Lit Night Bike Ride soundtrack will be provided by Massey student radio station Radio Control.