Apr 13 '06 - 678 W, 1 I - Vote Good + 2 :: Bad - 12 Shark suit, angel wings part of move using pedal power
Published April 10, 2006 by The Oregonian
By JOHN FOYSTON
Photo Credit :: BikePortland.org
Community - Fueled by coffee and Voodoo Doughnuts, people on bikes help a puppet company move across town
"One Less Car," read bike messenger Robert
Burchett's T-shirt. But judging from the mattress and
innerspring lashed to his trailer, and the boxes of
household chattels and puppet parts stowed in his Long Haul
cargo bike, he replaced a middlin' pickup at least.
Burchett and two dozen other Portland bicyclists -- and one from Bend -- turned out Sunday morning with kids, dogs, bikes, trailers, packs and panniers to help Bruce Orr, Carla Forte and the Mudeye Puppet Company move a household 10 miles from North Haight Street to St. Johns. Orr's puppet company puts on workshops that teach schoolkids how to make puppets from recycled scrap -- which explained the monster heads, robots, cityscapes, angel wings and shark suit that decorated bikers and bikes for the trip.
"This is the longest puppet-powered bike move in Portland history," bike advocate Timo Landia told the assembled and laden column after a suitable trumpet fanfare from Orr.
Though bike moves don't happen every week, they are a notable feature of Portland's bicycling community.
"I went to bed last night sure that nobody would show up this morning, because only one person had replied to say he would," Landia said, "so I was thrilled to see you all here this morning."
The crowd was equally thrilled to see Landia show up with pots of fresh coffee -- just the thing to go with the two giant plastic buckets of Voodoo Doughnuts' finest on the sign-in table. Bicyclists pulled in the alley and filled the side yard, greeting friends -- everybody knew everybody else, it seemed -- munching pastries and rummaging though boxes of costumes and puppet heads.
"Something like this shows that there's no limit to what the Portland bike community can do," said Anna Scalera, who coordinates youth programs for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance. "I moved here in 2001 to live a car-free and bike-centric life."
"This is a great way for us to reconnect with all our friends in the bicycling community," said Carie Folz, who spent March with her husband, Allan, and 3-year-old son, Cody, riding their tandem bicycle in Laos. Their long silver bike sported racks for four panniers, four water bottles and a kid's seat over the rear wheel protected by a conical bamboo sunshade.
Ken Southerland is another bikey Portlander -- he has served coffee and crullers to bike commuters monthly for three years as part of Breakfast on the Bridges.
"I've done 90 percent of the bike moves and I love them because it brings the community together. And it blows peoples' minds -- we get so many looks when we tell people that we're helping someone move with bicycles."
Southerland was definitely helping Sunday. His trailer held a steel filing cabinet, a kitchen table top, a drafting table top and legs, boxes of puppet parts, a coffee table and an armchair atop it all. "I'm done," he said.
Well, there were still 10 miles to be essayed before pizza in St. Johns, but it looked to be about as much fun as you could have helping someone move. The route called for a leisurely pedal along scenic, winding Willamette Boulevard.
The route was mostly flat, but even slight hills made you wonder how Sara Stout and her dog were doing aboard the giant green pedal-powered platform that was kind of like a sidecar, only bigger.
"On the flat, it's awesome," she said, "I've actually hauled a refrigerator on it. But if there's any kind of hill, forget it -- that's why I've got these ropes coiled here, so people can help pull."
John Foyston: 503-221-8368; johnfoyston@news.oregonian.com
Puppet Parade Bike Move Gallery
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