The Wisconsin State Fair in West Allis, Wisconsin, has never been an easy venue to bike to. There were no bike racks, no security and no official encouragement to ride to the fair. That has changed dramatically in 2008. Thanks to the efforts of Jack Hirt of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin and the enthusiasm of Kathleen O’ Leary of the State Fair, bicyclists will be welcomed with open arms this year. “Pedal to the Park,” the State Fair’s official name for the promotion, will encourage bicycling to the State Fair by offering bike parking near the north and south entrances to the park. If you are a member of the Bike Federation or on the mailing list of some bike shops in the Milwaukee area, you will soon receive an email encouraging you to “Pedal to the Park.” The email blast is expected to reach nearly 30,000 cyclists.

Bikeverywhere has helped with the promotion by producing a custom map of bike routes to the State Fair and sending out promotional materials to bike dealers in the greater Milwaukee area. This is the same assistance that we gave to Summerfest earlier this summer and similar to the custom bike route mapping Bikeverywhere did for the Miller Lite Ride for the Arts. You can download copy of the map here. Eventually the map will also be available for download on the Wisconsin State Fair website.

This year you can add a bike ride to the corn dog/Midway/animal barn experience of the Wisconsin State Fair.

Summerfest, on Milwaukee’s lakefront, bills itself as the World’s Largest Music Festival. Running from June 26 to July 6 this year, it has multiple stages booked with music from noon to midnight daily. It also has a long history of providing free parking for bicyclists right in front of the Mid-Gate entrance to the grounds.

This year Summerfest is going green and part of the greening effort is to encourage more ticket holders to bike to the festival. Bikeverywhere teamed up with Summerfest to create a map of bike routes to the Summerfest grounds from three directions (Sorry, no bike routes across Lake Michigan.). The routes start 5-6 miles from the Summerfest grounds and follow bike friendly roads and bike paths to the Chicago Avenue bike parking lot. The map is a distilled version of the Milwaukee and SE Wisconsin Bike Map created by bikeverywhere.

You can download a free copy of the map from the Summerfest website, or right here. Bikeverywhere has also supplied free paper maps to Milwaukee area bike shops.

The goal of this promotion is two fold. The obvious goal is to encourage more cyclists to ride their bikes to big, fun events like Summerfest. We believe that a cyclist only has to avoid parking hassles and slip past traffic once to appreciate the value of the bike when attending a large event like Summerfest. The bigger-picture goal is to show other events, both large and small, that providing basic necessities, like free parking and good route maps, will encourage cyclists, therefore reducing the event’s needs for ever bigger parking lots and traffic control expenses.

For bikeverywhere, the goal is very simple. We want more people to live the bikeverywhere motto. So give it a try. Download the free Bike-to-Summerfest Map. Pick out a route and ride to this incredible music event. And if you want to start further out, consider purchasing a Milwaukee and SE Wisconsin Bike Map. You could plan a route from as far away as Lake Geneva or Kenosha. Now wouldn’t that be fun?

For the record: Bike parking is fenced and a guard is stationed at the lot during festival hours. You will still have to bring a lock for your bike. The fencing and the guard are extra security measures provided by Summerfest.

Hundreds of bicyclists pass through Bayside daily from Milwaukee on their way north along the shores of Lake Michigan, but too many are riding carelessly or illegally. The local police department has been fielding numerous calls about illegal bicycling activity and recently contacted Jack Hirt of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin to solicit their help with the problem. The Bike Fed and the Bayside Police Department will hold a oint Open House this spring to educate everyone about the rights and responsibilities of bicyclists. the date and time will be announced in an upcoming e-newsletter from the Bike Fed.

Bikeverywhere has teamed up with the Miller Lite Ride for the Arts to update their bike route maps and make them more user friendly. This long running institution has supported the performing arts in Milwaukee for 28 years and has drawn more than 230,000 bike riders since 1981. The ride starts at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Milwaukee and offers five routes varying in length from 5 to 75 miles. Bikeverywhere updated all five route maps using the Milwaukee and SE Wisconsin Bike Map as the base. We’re proud to be part of the team that is supporting the Performing Arts in Milwaukee. Stop by our booth at the finish line and say Hi.