Did you bike to the Festivals?
We broke more records this year
Both Folk and Jazz Fests hit a Friday best!
The Folkies numbered over 1,650 and the Jazz Cats hit a cool 450.
Here’s the daily tally:
Folk Fest: Friday 1650, Saturday 1600, Sunday 1400
Jazz Fest: Friday 450, Saturday 460, Sunday 420
Way to go everyone, we loooove seeing the Jazz numbers climbing each year!
The benefits of biking to the festivals are numerous! It’s a low cost, high fun, oxygenating, traffic reducing, adventure around a lovely historic coastal city.
Safety for Bicycles: For the Folk Festival, with such high numbers of people biking, 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.” 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 all who rode bicycles to the Festivals, to the awesome volunteer Bike Team who welcomed the sea of cyclists, to the Newport Festivals Foundation, to 11th Hour Racing for being incredible sponsors and collaborators, 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.
In the words of the bicyclists: ❤️ Loved biking to the festival! ❤️ We plan to commute this way every year going forward. ❤️ It’s so much better to park and ride than drive to the Jazz Festival if you are able to! ❤️ Thank you for giving everyone the lights!!! So appreciated. ❤️ This was my first year biking and will definitely be biking in future years. ❤️ Great way to beat the crowds. ❤️ Really great setup. One of the best I’ve seen for an event this size. ❤️ Attaching lights to all the bikes at night was a great idea, as are all the volunteers helping out at the racks. ❤️ The bike repair tent was a great addition. Smooths things out and makes folks feel safe. ❤️ Very happy to have biked. ❤️ I really appreciate all the information available on the website to help make the biking process easier. ❤️ I appreciate the ability to park in designated lots for this purpose. Thank you! ❤️ We love biking to and from the festival! ❤️ I’m a bit nervous around cars so the designated bike lane is amazing!!! ❤️ LOVE the separated bike lane. The ability to be apart from motorized vehicles was key. ❤️ The ride was nice, Newport is beautiful. ❤️
Don’t Forget:
Tell us about your ride!
After you bike to the Festivals, please tell us about your ride – We compile all responses for 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