Loveland Colorado

Come Enjoy Bikes, Beer and Benevolence while supporting Overland Mountain Bike Club, Bike Ft. Collins and Ft. Collins Bike Co-op

New Belgium Brewing is bringing Tour de Fat, its traveling celebration of things bicycle, home on September 3. In its 12th season, Tour de Fat is more than an event; it’s a rite of passage that includes a costumed bicycle parade, New Belgium beer, eye-popping entertainment, local food, crazy bike contests and much more. Last year, the Ft. Collins Tour de Fat stop had approximately 15,000 attendees and raised more than $52,000 for local non-profits.

A highlight of every Tour de Fat stop is the annual car-for-bike swap and we’re still looking for a swapper to represent Ft. Collins in this challenge! At each Tour de Fat stop, one person hands over his or her car keys and commits to one year of living car-free. Each car-for-bike swapper will receive a hand-built Black Sheep (http://www.blacksheepbikes.com/) commuter bike in return for his or her car.

Volunteers are chosen after submitting an application describing their desire to live sans- car. To apply, go to New Belgium’s Tour de Fat Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/TourDeFat), click on events and your city of choice, and upload your application in one of three formats: video (two minutes or less, please), photo or the written word.

“Ft. Collins is where this cycling carnival first came to life, so it’s always fun when we get to bring it back home,” said Bryan Simpson, spokesman for New Belgium. “People who haven’t witnessed Tour de Fat don’t quite know what to expect, but that’s what we love. It’s an uninhibited day of quirky costumes, bikes and entertainment while supporting our non-profit friends.”

Here are details about the Ft. Collins event:

Date: Saturday, September 3

Parade Registration: 9:00 a.m.

Ride Times: 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Entertainment: 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Location: Civic Center Park – North Howes Street and La Porte Avenue

Benefitting: Overland Mountain Bike Club (http://www.overlandmtb.org/) Bike Ft. Collins (http://www.bikefortcollins.org/) Ft. Collins Bike Co-op (http://fcbikecoop.org/)

Sustainable Support By: Zero Hero (http://www.zeroheroevents.com/)

Performances By: The Daredevil Chickens Club – www.daredevilchicken.com The Dovekins – www.myspace.com/dovekins YoYo Squared – http://www.yoyoshow.com Los Amigos Invisibles http://beta.amigosinvisibles.com/ The Claptet – http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Claptet/235723659784548 Matt Skellenger – http://www.mattskellenger.com/ Sambadende – http://www.sambadende.com/ That 1 Guy – http://www.that1guy.com/

Price: Admission – Free Parade – Suggested donation of $5 or more Beer – $5 for a 16 oz. pour

A few tidbits about Tour de Fat:

Tour de Fat encourages everybody to team up and present each city with the most colorful, respectful and creative bike parade ever witnessed. (Hint: No one stands out like the guy who was too cool for a costume!) Tour de Fat seeks to leave as small an environmental imprint as possible and composts and recycles waste. The waste diversion rate for 2010 was 91 percent. Tour de Fat is free to attend, but beer and merchandise proceeds go to local cycling non-profits. During its lifespan, Tour de Fat events have raised more than $1.75 million for philanthropy. Last year Tour de Fat raised $331,428. All musical acts perform on a solar-powered stage decorated with recycled materials; trucks and transport use biofuel sourced from recycled waste oils; and all vendors operate off the grid.

This is a pro-bike celebration, not an anti-car rally…non-cyclists are more than welcome to join the festivities.

Still breaking ground in their 20th year, New Belgium Brewing has dipped into the world of publishing with Tour de Fat; Sights, Sounds, Feelings, Flavors, a coffee table art book celebrating the first eleven years of the Colorado brewer’s traveling, philanthropic bike festival. The limited edition hard cover book chronicles the trials and triumphs of building an event from the ground up. From the early years when the whole show fit in the back of a pickup truck to 2010’s hometown Tour de Far with more than 15,000 attendees, the story is a first-person narrative from the cyclists, carnies, performers and car swappers who lived to tell the tale.

“Having seen this thing grow up from the get-go,” said New Belgium Spokes Model, Bryan Simpson, “the book truly reflects and celebrates the blood, sweat and perseverance it took to build this event into a powerful philanthropic engine and a bike advocacy building block.”

The project stems from a long-standing collaboration with Fort Collins-based independent publisher, Wolverine Farm Publishing. WFP staff and volunteers have traveled with the tour for the last six years extolling the virtues of literature married to activism and art. Publisher Todd Simmons published and edited the book.

“Tour de Fat rises above every other summer festival in its commitment to artistic integrity, philanthropic protest, and complete worship of the bicycle, and this book is merely an extension of that—a wildly flung tail of the last eleven years,” said Simmons.

This season Tour de Fat is expected to surpass $2 million raised for bike advocacy since its inception. With stops in 13 cities throughout the summer and fall, the Tour raises money for non-profits thru beer sales and challenges one driver from every city to give up their car for a year in exchange for a bicycle. Every event starts with a costumed bike parade followed by a mix of music, vaudeville and general spectacle topped off with the actual swapping of a car for bike and a celebratory dance party.

The book is available online at or at Tour de Fat events throughout the year.

New Belgium Brewing, maker of Fat Tire Amber Ale, wants all fans of the slopes to meet them in Telluride on March 12 as it kicks off the 2011 New Belgium Scavenger Hunt Series. The Telluride event marks the first of three scavenger hunts, with additional stops in Taos, NM and Loveland, CO. At the scavenger hunts, costumes are highly encouraged, giant chickens are chased and unique riddles are solved, all while raising money for local non-profits.

“Drag out your Tour de Fat costume and join us on the mountain to help out a worthy cause,” said Shawn Hines with New Belgium Brewing. “This fundraiser is all about adding a little flare to the typical ski day, adding colorful culture and new knowledge to the downhill experience.”

Many of the scavenger hunt riddles are focused on New Belgium beer and culture, sustainability, Telluride Ski Resort and TASP, which helps enrich the lives of people with disabilities through educational and recreational opportunities. To participate it’s only $10 per person plus the cost of a ski ticket, with all proceeds for the Telluride stop benefiting TASP.

Registration starts at 9 a.m. with the scavenger hunt running from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Groups of one to four people will search for both stationary and moving clues. Teams with the first and second highest point totals and the team with the lowest total will receive prizes at the post-party, held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. The post-party will also include the chance to win a 20th anniversary New Belgium cruiser bike. Each participant will receive a New Belgium pint glass made specifically for the event.

New Belgium created the Scavenger Hunt Series five years ago and this is the third year that Telluride Ski Resort has hosted the event. For more information, check out http://www.newbelgium.com/events/event-map.aspx.

The Scavenger Hunt Series Schedule:

Telluride, Colorado March 12 Taos, New Mexico March 18 Loveland Ski Area, Colorado April 2