Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Saturday, May 10, 2008
Art Bike Parade brings 'visual quirkiness' to Madison
MADISON — The trolls are ready to roll. Twenty-three of 'em: Round-bellied, wild-haired and grinning ear to ear — tied up, down and all around the fenders of an old Schwinn bike. Trolls on the handlebars. Big ol' troll rattling the spokes.
"The Troll Bike is hugely popular," assures Ann Bell, as she gives a tour of two-dozen two-wheeled wonders temporarily parked along the driveway outside her apartment. "That's the Wicker Bike," she says, turning to the next in line. "This is the Ninja Turtle Bike. And this one I want to make into the Christmas Tree Bike."
Almost by accident, Bell is heir apparent to the job of "coordinator" of Madison's 11th annual Art Bike Parade, starting at 11 a.m. today at State Street on the Capitol Square. Anyone can show up with a bike and/or costume, the more outlandish the better, for two spins around the Square. Kids can show up at 10 a.m. for a bike-decorating workshop at the Madison Children's Museum.
The Art Bike Parade, which serves as a kickoff to Bike to Work Week, has long been shepherded by Russ Bennett and Shannon Baruth, who will be among the several dozen art-bikers expected this weekend.
The point is "just to keep a visual quirkiness in Madison," says Baruth. "That's kind of slipped in the past 15 years or so. We'd like to show that Madison is not completely predictable, and preserve that artistic side."
The Demented Farmer Bikes certainly help.
The dozen or so wacky vehicles, which have become a parade centerpiece, were rounded up by Bennett and a friend from a guy who'd found them in a northern Wisconsin chicken coop.
"The person who built them apparently didn't know how to weld," says Bell, as her husband careens down the driveway on the Bowling Ball Bike. "They're all bolted together with crazy amounts of bolts."
"Some of these old bikes are just great," she adds. "Before TV, what did people do? 'Well, honey, I'll go out to the barn and make a bike with bowling-ball wheels!' "
Oiling chains and changing flats over the past couple of weeks, Bell has gotten to know the Demented Farmer collection well — like the Push-Me-Pull-You Bicycle, a tandem with the seats and handlebars facing in opposite directions, and a bike whose wheel hubs are off-center, creating a teeter-totter effect for the rider. Bell currently is looking for a storage home in Madison for the bikes; last winter, they were stowed in a Verona barn.
Homemade classics from past parades include the Grass Bike, which actually grows turf, and Gold Bike, festooned with fake doubloons and metallic Mylar streamers.
"The idea of taking the bicycle, which is already a beautiful piece of craft and machinery, and having fun of it with found objects, turning trash into art, was part of the inspiration," says Marcia Miquelon, today the director of the Mazomanie Movement Arts Center. Miquelon hatched the idea of the first Art Bike Parade in 1998 as a way to draw attention to Bike to Work Week, and the Dane County Farmers' Market created a large and "accidental audience," she says.
 Johanna Coenen drops off "Pink Champagne" to Art Bike Parade organizer Ann Bell in preparation for today's event, featuring a number of decorated bicycles, on the Capitol Square. |
Bell got involved this year after reading a post on a bike discussion group on the Internet.
"I thought they needed someone to put up some fliers," she says with a laugh. A bike enthusiast who rides her Cannondale mountain bike all over town ("it's not cool; it's sturdy," she says), Bell is the veteran of a 650-mile AIDS ride. Until recently, however, she'd never worked on anything like Evil Bike, a parade classic wrapped in menacing black leather.
"I call them folk-art bikes. I think they're really charming," says Bell, then pauses. "People might have different opinions on that. But I think they're really charming."
Today's parade promises to be "crazy," thanks to the "Cars on State" exhibit happening at the same time, plus construction at the Capitol, she says.
"We'll have to get off and push the bikes part of the time," she says. "But it is partly about creating a spectacle, so I think that'll be OK."
THE DETAILS
What: Art Bike Parade to kick off Bike to Work Week
When: 11 a.m. today
Where: Starts at the corner of State Street near the Capitol; winds around Capitol Square two times. Concludes on King Street.
To be in the parade: Show up with a bike and/or costume, the zanier the better.
Bike decorating workshop for kids:
More information: http://madisonartbikes.blogspot.com/ 10 a.m. at the Madison Children's Museum, 100 State St.
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