Fall Bicycle Ride Ties Port Byron and Sparta's Ambassadors Will B. Rolling and Ben Bikin'
Port Byron, Illinois - The Village of Port Byron, the Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Blackhawk Waterways Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Sparta (WI) Area Chamber of Commerce, and communities in-between have partnered to create the inaugural "Will B. Rolling to Ben Bikin'" bicycle tour to be held October 3-9, 2015.
The tour covers portions of Northwestern Illinois and Southwestern Wisconsin at a time of year when fall colors should be at their peak and when Sparta's Fallfest is in full swing to offer riders festivities at the conclusion of the tour. The ride covers six days, averaging 10 hours per day.
Port Byron is located directly on the Mississippi River and the Great River Trail, a trail which stretches more than 60 miles in Illinois from Rock Island to Savanna. Sparta is the "Bicycle Capital of America" so the two communities make a strong bicycling team.
In 1995, Sparta designed and manufactured a large fiberglass "man" dressed in Sparta colors (red and gold), sitting on a penny-farthing bicycle. The bicycle and rider were installed in the Information Area on the corner of Water and Highway 16, a prominent spot for viewing, and was named "Ben Bikin'". The statue was manufactured by a local Sparta company called Fiberglass Animals Shapes & Trademarks (F.A.S.T.)
Former Port Byron Mayor Larry Bay visited Sparta to ride the famous Elroy-Sparta Trail in 2013 and was impressed with the statue. He commissioned F.A.S.T. to build a replica to be called Will B. Rolling for his town. Bay then gifted the statue to the village and it was installed in 2013 in a prominent location in downtown Port Byron, adjacent to the Mississippi River and the Great River Trail. A friendship between mayors rose and there was talk of connecting the two towns by way of a bicycling event. The Sparta Area Chamber of Commerce began collaborating between the two cities and eventually contracted with Bicycle Illinois to coordinate the logistics of the event.
To register, go to www.willtoben.com
Contact Information:
Mayor Kevin Klute or Trustees Bruce Peterson or Clinton Sullivan, Village of Port Byron, (309) 523-3705
Joe Taylor, President/CEO, Quad Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau, (309) 736-6820
Diane Bausman, Executive Director, Blackhawk Waterways CVB, (800) 678-2108
