Before fall meant Oktoberfest, the Fremont Chamber of Commerce annual fundraiser and bacchanalian celebration of Bavaria, Beer and, well, Fun, fall once meant bicycles.

The End

Tour de Fremont took place for the first time in 1994.  This event, featuring one of the few criterion bike races held on city streets, quickly gained the enthusiastic support of a business district anxious to build up excitement as summer slipped away.  The event had built-in buzz.

However, it didn’t have attendees.  David Douglas took over the second (and last) year of Tour de Fremont in 1995.  “It didn’t get very good attendance,” he says about why it failed.  “There’s been talk about bringing it back,” he admits, “the hard part is getting the businesses behind it.”

While Chamber businesses supported Tour de Fremont, those nose-to-spokes with such a race face a heavy burden.  The race shut down one block each of Phinney Avenue North, Canal Place, and 35th Street to create a circular track – and cut off all access to this triangular block, including pedestrian, while bikes whizzed by.

“Fremont doesn’t have the space,” for another Tour de Fremont, according to David, and while all may not agree, it would be difficult to find businesses willing to lose complete access for several hours.  Fremont has “a lot more population density now than in 1994.”

David took over the Tour de Fremont as he built up a similar, and successful, Twilight Bicycle Race held in Ballard for the last 12 years.  Twilight “gets good turnout, good sponsors” David admitted, and credits part of that to the time of year.  Between 300-400 racers turn out for the event in June, while Tour de Fremont hit when “the guys that race are burned out” or have schedule conflicts.  With 1,200 licensed racers in Washington (although ‘day of’ licenses can be purchased) a finite number of participants exist.

Also, Twilight takes place in Old Ballard, around blocks occupied by restaurants, bars and 9-to-5 businesses that either don’t feel an impact, or welcome spectators who eat and drink while captive audience to the race.  Perhaps Fremont’s biggest obstacle to a return of the Tour would be a lack of homogenous businesses – not one block of Fremont real estate has a single type of business, or a down time.

Charles Hadrann, owner of Wright Bros. Cycle Works, provided sponsorship of Tour de Fremont.  Charles recalls “some of the businesses weren’t too friendly” to the idea of the Tour races, although it’s “not too different from a fun run.”  He says the Twilight “is like one big carnival” with over a thousand people regularly attending, Charles estimates, “and that’s just the spectators.”

The Start

In 1995 Jon Hegeman, of Fremont Sunday Market, tried expanding Tour de Fremont.  He promoted the “Annual Oktoberfest Forklift Rodeo plus Tour de Fremont Men’s & Women’s Criterion Cycle Race.”  Recently Jon explained, “As you know, the forklift rodeo never happened.”  Working as the Fremont Business Association, “we climbed into the beer stein and we found ourselves in over our heads.  We didn’t know how to do a beer event; we didn’t have sponsors.”  When Tour de Fremont didn’t return in 1996, attention focused on beer over bikes – and fundraising.

With the Fremont Chamber in desperate need of a regular fundraiser, beer held more widespread appeal.  In 1997, Phil Megenhardt and his wife, Neave Karger-Megenhardt, as Bold Hat Productions, pulled together Oktoberfest.  In their tenth year, they’ve raised the bar yet again and grown the event larger and larger, to a larger and larger audience.

Shimmering On The Horizon

Oktoberfest is a lot of things to a lot of people, but it is not bicycles.  Luckily, Tour de Fat, proclaimed as “A Ballyhoo of Bikes And Beer” returned to Fremont this year, on August 12th.  Sponsored by New Belgium Brewery, makers of Fat Tire beer, Tour de Fat travels to cities, 11 in 2006, as a road show carnival, and a fundraiser for a local bicycle cause.  Here they raised money for the Bicycle Alliance of Washington (BAW).

“It’s something that started a long time ago,” Chris explained, “something different than mainstream advertising, and we have more stories to tell.”  Held under the Aurora Bridge, the event featured an “anti-race,” as Chris called it, a non-competitive bicycle parade showing off outrageous costumes, and even more outrageous two-wheeled contraptions.  The rest of the day contains “a whole bunch of stuff,” as Chris called the games, bands, vaudeville, juggling, stiltwalkers, costume and dance contests, and, of course, beer.

“This is a little more artistic take on bicycles,” event organizer Chris Wins explained, and certainly the advisory on the promotion posters, “Costumes encouraged, required and supplied,” fits Fremont to an “F”.  Luckily for us while Chris could locate the event anywhere, he remains committed to coming here he says, “’cause Fremont is the Center of the Universe!”

Even so, it hasn’t been easy.  The first Tour de Fat took place along Canal Park (the same location as Tour de Fremont) in 2000, and returned in ‘01 and ’02.  But, “it didn’t work,” Phil opined.  Chris, and New Belgium, has to learn different City and State rules governing events and beer distribution in each place he stages the show.  In 2003 the challenge grew too great, but with the help of Bold Hat, Phil and a welcoming community, Tour de Fat returned in 2006, and may well become as reliable as Oktoberfest.

“It’s a great way to tap into the bicycle culture,” Phil believes, plus it’s “great for the community, to have one more wacky event in town.”  Even if no one resurrects Tour de Fremont, it leaves a strong legacy – Oktoberfest and Tour de Fat – far beyond anyone’s wildest dreams, even those in Fremont.