Dave Harter reporting for Green Options Buffalo
*In this series Green Options Buffalo will be highlighting events, festivals, shows and rides that are guaranteed to be top-notch adventures for bicycle riders.
As I pedaled my bicycle downtown last Wednesday I passed through downpours and lightning flashes, but as I got closer to Merge Restaurant on Delaware the sun started streaming down in tiny vectors and a rainbow had shown up… a double rainbow. It was a sign, I’m convinced.
People were setting up and I caught DJ Cutler looking at his equipment under a small tent, then looking nervously at the sky and then at his equipment again. There was still a light drizzle. Sarah Schneider, co-owner of Merge, tossed him an electric cord from a window and the decision was made: the event was on.
Sarah came out into the parking lot and launched herself onto a six-foot fence perched like Batman to tie off the giant inflatable screen for the movie, everyone else followed suit and hopped into action setting up. The sun flooded, the rainbow brightened, Cutler started spinning those funky beats he spins, the beer came out and people started having fun. Some folks started playing those inexplicably hilarious lawn games where one thing is thrown at another thing and eventually someone wins. Some were gathered around a table for the joy of painting bicycles with watercolors and cracking lots of pointless, wonderful jokes. Even if Flying Bison’s delicious Rusty Chain brew making the rounds hadn’t been there, goofing around with games and crafts had the Hakunna Matatta effect on everyone: it was all smiles and laughter about five minutes into Wheel to Reel.
Teetering on the brink of a rain-out definitely gave the premier Wheel to Reel event a magical feel, but that was just a bonus. Even the movie felt like a bonus because the pre-movie part was so much fun… and the movie was The Goonies. It was a summer adventure… a summer bicycle adventure.
I left Merge’s Wheel to Reel bike-in-movie experience feeling like I needed to share the joy of doing things in Buffalo without a car. So from joyful inspiration the, “Summer Adventure Series,” was born.
In this series, Green Options Buffalo will be highlighting events, festivals, shows and rides that are guaranteed to be top-notch adventures for bicycle riders. Some of the event organizers (like Merge) are donating proceeds from the events to help Green Options Buffalo provide more access to healthy, environmentally sustainable and community friendly transportation. Biking to these events is healthy, keeps your money local and is ridiculously fun.
Tonight’s Wheel to Reel event features even more pre-movie activities with Bike Jewelry making and presents Quicksilver a 1985 Kevin Bacon gem about losing it all in the stock market and finding redemption as a bike messenger. So come forget about work, play some games and watch Kevin Bacon as he bar-spins his way back to confidence – IT’S FREE! Love is a finely tuned hub.
Wheel to Reel
427 Delaware Avenue
(In the Merge parking lot)
Event @ 7pm
Movie after Dark (around 9)
FREE EVENT!
Tonight: Quicksilver
July 20th: Napoleon Dynamite
July 27th: Wizard of Oz
Support our efforts to make Buffalo a bicycle friendly city by becoming a member today! Your annual membership will give you benefits such as full access to our community workshop (Blue Bike), bicycle benefits discounts at area retailers and cultural organizations as well as discounts on classes and the Massachusetts Avenue Project’s annual Tour de Farm ride.