[Durham INC] "Tour de Fat" lands at American Tobacco Campus tomorrow

[Ed Harrison]

The first of these was great fun last year, even for those of us working the registration booths who could only watch the Bike Parade from the sidelines.  You can only see the feature photo from last year's costumed bike parade in the N&O print edition. 


There's beer but Tour de Fat has lots for kids too

By Kristin Collins - CORRESPONDENT
Published in: Family  (Friday 6/22/12 News and Observer)
Saturday, families have a chance to step out of the ordinary and spend a day reveling in their wild sides. The creative and crazy Tour de Fat in downtown Durham is a great time for all ages.

The daylong event at Diamond View Park at the American Tobacco Campus is sponsored by New Belgium Brewing, maker of some fine craft beers including the well-known Fat Tire Ale. There will be beer flowing, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a great place for kids too.

“We are as family-friendly as an event put on by a brewery could ever be,” said Paul Gruber, the operations manager for the tour.

First on the agenda is a five-mile costumed bike parade, which starts at 10 a.m. Get there by 9 to register. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., kids and parents can enjoy live music, a performance from a yo-yo world champion, a giant Slinky and Connect Four game, and the chance to play with bicycles and instruments made from repurposed materials – to name just a few of the attractions.

New Belgium’s website calls the Tour de Fat a “thrilling rite of passage that includes an unparalleled costumed bicycle parade, New Belgium beer, eccentric entertainment, local food, unusual bike contests and much more.”

The event is free to enter, but you’ll have to pay for the beer and food. All proceeds will go to Triangle-area charities that promote bicycling.

New Belgium is taking this event to 15 cities this year to spread its message of environmental sustainability and promote bicycling. The brewery and its most famous beer got their name after the company’s founder took a bicycling tour of Belgium, tasting beer and riding a fat-tired cruiser.

New Belgium’s brewery is in Colorado, and it uses wind power, methane recapturing and other strategies to make its brewing environmentally friendly. The company’s second brewery will open in Asheville in 2015.
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