A celebration of living legends. international surprises, collaborative genre-defying icons, and modern grooves made the Newport Folk and Newport Jazz Festivals six days of awesome!
Here are a couple of recent recaps to relive the memories: Newport Folk with Rhode Island Monthly and Newport Jazz with the Providence Journal.
Another stunning success of Festivals 2026? The record breaking numbers of bicycles! Woohoo!!
We had a feeling this year would see a surge, and we were ready! Here’s the down and dirty of biking to Newport Folk and Newport Jazz.
But first … Did you bike to the Festivals? We want to know about it!
Back to the story – Bike Newport staff and volunteers were ready for you!
- We routed record numbers of Folkies and Jazz Cats on bikes from all corners of the City, the Island, the State, and the region – every day of the festivals.
- We parked bikes of all shapes and sizes on brand new bike racks thanks to the Champlin Foundation.
- We had bike mechanics at the ready to help with all manner of minor fixes .
- And we sent everyone home flashing with lights thanks to 11th Hour Racing.
Here are the daily tallies and totals:
Folk Fest: Friday 1812, Saturday 1720, Sunday 1612 – Total: 5144
Jazz Fest: Friday 609, Saturday 595, Sunday 582 – Total 1786
In case you’re counting, that’s a 34% increase in one year at Jazz 🤩 – the Cats are catching up!
Way to go everyone, we loooove to see the numbers increase year after year for both weekends!
Biking is the coolest low-cost, high-fun, oxygenating, traffic-reducing way to get around and enjoy Newport – the City by the Sea!
New Bike Racks – REAL bike racks ❤️ : Thanks to generous support and partnership from the Champlin Foundation, this year featured our new and improved bike racks. The upgrade made everyone happy – volunteers and bicyclists alike – contributing to speedy bike parking – and fancy new branding for Bike Newport and our Get There By Bike initiative. BIG THANKS to The Champlin Foundation!
Safety for Bicycles: For the high number of people biking to the Folk Festival, the City dedicates one active traffic lane approaching Fort Adams – just for bicycles. The police who enforce and support the dedicated lane call it “the best, smartest, and safest design.”
Do you think Jazz deserves a bike lane, too? Take this survey, include your comments, and we’ll use them in our report to the City. Thank you!
Additionally, each day of both festivals, volunteers outfit every bike with a set of flashing lights – white for the front and red for the back – helping to ensure that the bicyclists are seen on the roads at night. Exiting the festival and finding the sea of bicycles twinkling is a magical experience every night 🌟🌟🌟🌟
MANY THANKS!
To everyone who biked to the Festivals, to the awesome 68 Bike Team volunteers who welcomed the sea of cyclists, to the Newport Festivals Foundation, to 11th Hour Racing for being incredible sponsors and collaborators, to The Champlin Foundation for the new bike racks, to the Newport County YMCA and Salve Regina University for providing Park & Bike lots, and to the Newport Police Department for helping to plan, guide, support, and keep everyone safe.
Bike Love From the People Who Bike ❤️🚲❤️
❤️ Quick and easy ride! ❤️ The bike parking system, location, and staff were excellent! ❤️ Your bike mechanics are amazing and helped save one of our bikes! ❤️ Easy for a non-conditioned biker, loved the lights they gave us at the end! ❤️ I used to be jealous of the bikers while I was stuck in traffic getting in and out of the fort! Figured this was the year to join them! ❤️ The bike lanes for Folk Festival has improved so much over the years. Thank you ❤️ I love when I can access places on a bike! ❤️ Loved it. Wonderful way to begin and end each day. ❤️ Biking to the festival is the best way to get here. Leaving the festival with everyone in the bike group is a great feeling. I recommend everyone bike. ❤️ Love renting bikes from Bike Newport! We really appreciate the work to support biking to the festival 🙂 ❤️ Biking is the superior Folk and Jazz transportation method ❤️ I was nervous but the convenience and safety of the ride made me feel better. I was riding with my 8 year old – he enjoyed it and felt safe. ❤️ We love riding our bikes to the Jazz Festival! It would be even better with a designated lane. ❤️ Loved the directions from Ride with GPS ❤️ The signage is helpful to confirm you are on the right path. ❤️ Two of my friends had bike issues that would have kept them from riding safely and you helped both of them, thank you. ❤️ Will do again! ❤️ Really grateful for the work you do!! Huge motivation for biking is how fast, easy and safe you make it to get out of the festival at night ❤️ We love biking to both festivals ❤️
Reminder:
Please tell us about your ride!
We compile all of your responses into reports that support plans to make biking a safer, more comfortable, and easier choice for everyone who wants to ride – Thank you!
Thanks to:
Newport Festivals Foundation Greening Partner
and Bike Newport Supporter
Bike Newport