Over $1,500 raised for North Bay Fire Relief Fund Biketoberfest Redux a big success!
The rain stopped, clouds broke, the sun came out and the taps started flowing – Biketoberfest 2017 was a hit!
This year’s festival faced challenges – a near-cancellation due to unsafe air conditions on the original date – but everyone involved, including brewers, exhibitors, musicians and volunteers, had a can-do attitude and felt the “show must go on!”
Things got underway at 9:00 am with three rides; a Nicasio Reservoir road ride lead by the Marin Cyclists, a mountain bike ride through Tamarancho lead by Nick Fain, and an ambitious gravel ride to Bolinas Ridge and back lead bike Mike’s Bikes. While the riders were out burning off calories, the exhibitors, brewers and musicians were arriving to set-up their booths for an 11:00 am Bee-off time.
The crowds started to arrive on cue and our amazing MCBC volunteers were there to greet them and get them set up for Biketoberfest. The music kicked off at just after noon, with a set by The Pulsators from Sonoma County, followed by Danny Montana a and Panoramic Highway closing out the day. Everyone raved about the diversity and quality of this year’s music line-up, the bands all delivered excellent performances!
Speaking of line-ups and diversity, Biketoberfest did not disappoint on the selection of beer at the brewfest. Russian River served Pliny, Sonoma Cider offered three varieties of hard cider, including one aged in whisky barrels, Knee Deep brought out their Lupulin River Double IPA (winner of the People’s Choice BTW), Lagunitas brought fresh Born Yesterday wet hopped pale ale and there were crowds in front of Hen House and Faction Brewing most of the day.
Biketoberfest Marin 2017 People’s Choice Results:
1 – Knee Deep
2 – Henhouse
3 – Lagunitas
4 – Faction
5 – State Room
One of the highlights of this years Biketoberfest was the opportunity to pass the hat (er… boot, actually) in support of the North Bay fire victims. Through a raffle and passing of the fire boot, we raised $1563 for the North Bay Fire Relief Fund. Thanks to all who gave!
We had a great selection of exhibitors as well, including apparel from Redfrog Athletics, Mount Tam Apparel, Alpine Dam, Knights of Mobay and Dude Girl; local bikes and accessories from Derby Rims, Wilderness Trail Bikes, Cleary Bikes, Yuba Bicycles and Rack N Road; and bike shops including Mike’s Bikes, Splitrock Tap and Wheel, Krakatoa Bikes, Big Swingin’ Cycles and Trek Bikes Corte Madera. We had three NorCal teams at the event (Drake, San Rafael and Redwood), and community organizations such as Trips for Kids, Marin Museum of Bicycling, Fairfax Open Space, Aids Lifecycle, Marin County Parks and Friends of Stafford Lake Bike Park.
In total, we had close to 100 volunteers supporting the event. Tasks included distributing posters and other promotional items, setting up and cleaning up the event, getting people safely across the street and making sure everyone with a beer in their hand was of drinking age. Our Elite MCBC Bike Valet Squad stowed and retrieved more than 500 bikes, while our clean-up crew, which included members of the San Rafael Downtown Streets Team, broke down and tidied up in record time!
A big Thank You! to our sponsors, including Bay Area Bicycle Law, Lagunitas Brewing, Good Earth Natural Foods, Dolan Law, Firm, Mini of Marin, Endurance Performance, Mike’s Bikes, Marin Bikes, The New Wheel, Studio Velo, Sports Basement, Clif Bar, Iron Springs Brewing, Pacific Sun and the Bohemian.
We’d also like to thank Sven Revel and Mauro’s Pasta for feeding our volunteers and all of the Fairfax Plaza businesses for accommodating our annual festival.
There are many more photos than we have room for in this article – so we’ve pulled together a larger album over on the MCBC Facebook page.
And while you are thinking about it, take a minute to mark your calendar for next year’s Biketoberfest, which will take place in Fairfax on Saturday, October 13, 2018.
