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Redbones
will hold their 13th Annual Bike Party and Benefit Monday June 8,
proceeds from the event will benefit NEMBA and MassBike. |
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Rain date for this year's bike party is June 15.
~Photos courtesy of Anne Cushman |
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Ashley Taylor
As
you approach Redbones, the Chester Street restaurant between Diva and
Dunkin Donuts, the first thing you notice is the smell of smoke. Ahah,
barbecue, you think. Walking down Chester Street, your eyes might next
settle on the little red Chevy truck parked out front, the pickup
decorated with the restaurant's name, its letters licked by flames. As
you enter the restaurant, a second theme emerges: biking. Crossing the
threshold, you may stop and twirl the wheels of a mountain bike mounted
to the left of the door and covered in stickers. You may also read a
flyer advertising the Redbones 13th Annual Bike Party and Benefit.
Redbones,
Davis Square's long-time barbecue restaurant, will host this year's
bike party on Monday, June 8, from 5 to 9 p.m., in the street outside
the restaurant. The event will feature food, music, and prizes. For
$15, attendants get bicycle valet parking, a sandwich (pulled pork or
portabello), a drink (hard or soft), and a raffle ticket. Additional
raffle tickets are $2 each or three for five dollars. This year's grand
prize is a cargo bike donated by Alternative Needs Transportation and
valued at $2,500. Event proceeds will benefit bike advocacy groups
NEMBA (New England Mountain Bike Association) and MassBike.
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sponsors will set up 10×10-foot posters on the street informing
attendants about their products or organizations, while many more will
donate prizes for the raffle. Second Line Social Aid & Pleasure
Society Brass Band, or SAPS, will provide lively street music.
Throughout the night, Redbones owner and biker Robert Gregory will
raffle off items from the pickup of Redbones' unmissable red Chevy
truck.
Redbones enthusiasm for biking starts with its owner,
Robert Gregory. Gregory is a member of NEMBA, an organization
dedicating to enjoying and preserving New England's bike trails,
including this area's own Middlesex Fells. Gregory's enthusiasm for
biking led him to found the Redbones bike party in 1997, along with
another innovation: bicycle valet parking.
To encourage biking
and reduce traffic, Redbones staff will take your bike and lock it in a
secure storage facility, then retrieve it for you when you are ready.
The key feature of this service is that, unlike traditional valet
parking, which conjures up images of dressed-up diners tipping tuxedoed
drivers to park their Mercedes, Redbones bike valet parking is free
with no strings attached. Redbones offers the valet-parking service not
only to Redbones patrons, but to anyone out on a bike in Davis Square.
Gregory
introduced bicycle valet parking at Redbones first Bike Party, in May
of 1997. That year, the event drew 50 people to Underbones, the
downstairs bar of Redbones. Since then, the event has grown and moved
out into the street. Last year, the event raised $11,000.
Traditionally,
the Bike Party took place on the Monday of Bike-To-Work Week, in
mid-May. Since last year's party had to be postponed due to rain on
that day, Redbones decided to move this year's party from May 11 to
June 8. Ironically, it didn't rain during Bike-To-Work Week this year
(May 11-15), while the chance of rain on the eighth is 40%, according
to Weather.com. Rain date for this year's bike party is June 15. With
any luck, next week's weather will be good. And with bicycle valet
parking, your bike, at least, can stay dry come hail or high water.
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