Bike to five parties in four neighborhoods

Chattanooga holds its first Ciclovia on Sunday

Chattanooga hosts its first Ciclovia this month after a two-week postponement due to rain. But this weekend’s new date, Sunday, Oct. 29, prompted the addition of a Halloween theme, which will add to the fun.

Ciclovia is a rolling street party — a bicycle ride that connects four urban neighborhoods. Along the route there will be five neighborhood block parties. Participants are encouraged to dress in their favorite costumes.

“It’s a big event in that we’re covering 4 miles of East Chattanooga,” said Shannon Burke, the city’s celebration director.

Instead of filling streets with cars, Chattanooga organizers want to fill streets with cyclists and pedestrians.

“What we’re doing is we’re going to close down a lane on the street and turn it over to cyclists, pedestrians and people outside of their cars. And this lane is going to connect five block parties. People will be able to walk and bike from party to party throughout the afternoon,” said Burke.

The free event includes food vendors, parades, dancing, arts and crafts, music and fellowship between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Ciclovia in Chattanooga includes Glass Street, Highland Park, Ridgedale and Orchard Knob communities.

The event starts at the Stove Works development on Holtzclaw near Main Street. It ends at the intersection of Dodson Avenue and Glass Street. The last block party is scheduled there from 3 to 6 p.m. with a grand finale parade at 5:30 p.m.

The parade will run f rom East Chattanooga Recreation Center to Hardy Elementary School, with art bikes from Art 120, tall bikes, unicyclists, dancers from Zy’Mori Studio, Wayne- O- Rama puppets made by neighborhood residents and more.

Ciclovia, which means bike path in Spanish, started in Bolovia in the 1970’s. Since then, cities have hosted Ciclovia days throughout the country, even as close as Atlanta, Nashville and Knoxville.

Local trails and greenways advocate Jim Johnson brought the idea to Chattanooga after experiencing a Ciclovia in Santiago, Chile.

Bikes are welcome, but no one needs one, he said. People walk, some folks have skates or Pogo sticks. And it’s fine if people want to attend one block party or go to all five.

Johnson calls it a city celebration because if the event goes according to plan, residents from different neighborhoods and nationalities will fellowship and appreciate each other.

“A lot of cities across America and across the world have Ciclovias that focus primarily on making things bike- friendly, which is important. But in Chattanooga, especially given what’s going on in our country right now, I thought it was very important to celebrate the diversity that we have as a city and also what we have in common,” said Johnson.

Contact Yolanda Putman a ty put man@ times free press.com or 423-757-6431.

GETTY IMAGES Ciclovia organizers want to fill streets with cyclists and pedestrians.