You are invited to join Champaign County Bikes celebrate Independence Day by riding your bike in the Champaign County Freedom Celebration Parade!

The theme of this year's parade is "Honoring Our Military Heroes".
Your bicycle decorations should reflect this theme. Of course, good old Red, White, and Blue works great all by itself.

2008 Parade Grand Marshall - Marty Conatser (American Legion National Commander)

The Parade route begins at Lincoln and Nevada in Urbana heads south to Florida then west ending at First Street and Kirby Avenue (Florida ave.) in Champaign. Rider pick-up may be arranged in the car parking lot South and West of the corner of First and Kirby Ave.
Please read the parade rules (PDF)

NEWS PAPER makes a good recyclable decoration when used creatively. Kids can help too. One idea is to make "fireworks cones" (see photos below) by rolling newspaper into a cone shape and cutting slits a quarter-inch apart, downward from the top up to six inches. The result is a pompon like decoration that can be taped to the bike for a fun, easy to make, recyclable, nearly free decoration. Another way to use newspaper is to fold it into long sections and cut lots of short slits along the edge to make fringe. This can then be taped along all of the bicycle's tubing. Choosing colored ads lends some color to your newspaper decorations but regular newsprint looks nice also.

7" paper plates with slits cut from the edge to the center make nice wheel decorations. Cut an inch diameter circle out of the center and a slit from the center hole to one edge of the plate. This allows the plate to be slipped behind the spokes into the center of the wheel. You can buy a package of red, white and blue 4th o July party plates at any store. You'll need two per wheel. Or use white ones and let the kids color their own. They can color the front and back. That way you will only need one plate per wheel.

Party table cloths make great raw material for bike decorations. They are inexpensive and provide a lot of coverage. They are not recyclable but nether is crepe paper. And the plastic has the advantage of standing up to humidity and even rain. Crepe paper is not recyclable either and it sags over night, in humid conditions. Turning your nicely decorated bike of the day before into a sadly sagging slump of a parade bike. If you remove the decorations carefully you can reuse them the next year. That's even better than recycling the materials.

FAKE FUR, flags and other odds and ends from around the house can be glued, taped and tied to your bicycle to decorate it. Plastic flowers, Bennie Babies, balloons, toys,
old compact discs, colorful Red, White and Blue fabric will all look great!.

CUT OUTS made from cardboard offer a fun and simple way to add some form to the bike. Cut out stars, animals, or any shape at all and decorate it to express yourself. It's easy to make shapes out of cardboard and decorate them in comfort at the kitchen table then tie them to the bike with cotton string. Use and awl to poke a hole in the cardboard at the tie-on point and a crochet hook (make a hook from stiff wire) to pull the string through the hole. Tie it right to the bike frame. Make certain you don't interfere with safe control of the bike!

Signs / Banners
Print out giant letters, one or two to a page of office paper, making short messages that people can read from the side of the parade route. Glue the letters to a piece of cardboard, decorate it and tie it to your bike. For the 4th of July messages of a positive nature are best.

Be creative
Don't forget to wear Red, White, and Blue

CREPE PAPER streamers are a simple way kids can have fun decorating their own bikes. Weaving the paper in and out of the spokes works great for the wheels. Wrapping the frame and handlebars decorates the rest of the bike nicely. Making 6" streamers for the ends of the hand grips add a nice touch. A small drop or two of white glue (or glue stick) will allow you to stick the paper to itself and hold it in place. Clean-up is fast and easy. Cellophane tape works also.

In this example (above) you can see key points where the sign board was tied to the bike. The water bottle cage was also useful in holding the bottom-front corner of the board. Light weight, inexpensive package string (highlighted, lower-right) is strong enough to hold a lot of cardboard.

(below) "Firewerx Cones" are easy to make from newspaper. Find the colorful sales flyers that have slightly glossy paper. Roll one side of a page into a cone. Tape or glue the free end after you roll it. Make lots of cuts down ward from the open end of the cone to create a spray of fire works effect. Tape these to your bicycle and helmet for a fun, almost free! addition to your decorations. Another great thing about these is that the paper can be recycled after the parade is over! You just have to remove all small piece of tape holding the cone shape.

(below) Important safety test ride of the bike that will become "El Toro". Once we made sure the cardboard was clear of the peddles and heals we continued to decorate.

Triangle added (below)

"EL TORO!" (below)

"The Swan Bike" - step one (below)

"The Swan Bike" - step two (below)

"The Swan Bike" - completed (below)

The Swan Bike (above) first appeared in the 2006 4th of July parade. Under the decorations is a Royal-Enfield 3-speed. In 2007 the swan was recovered with plastic table cloth material cut into strips of fringe and glued to the cardboard with glue stick. Decorative plastic frill, tied on with string, covers the raw edges. The face is school construction paper and the Ride To Work sign is simple computer printout.

The Dr. Seuss bike is a 35 year old, Raleigh Twenty, folding bike. It is decorated with hundreds of newspaper firewerx cones stacked the length of all of the frame parts. A broom handle zip-tied to the bike holds the umbrella aloft. All of the decorations went into the paper recycling bin after the parade. Very green!

The Rocket Bike, another Raleigh Twenty folder, was created with cardboard and plastic table cloth and other plastic holiday decorations, including frilly streamers. The fringe hanging along the bottom was made by laying strips of inexpensive decorative streamers on top of two inch wide tape cellophane tape. In the wheels you can see a flag design 7" paper plate and some stars that are from a roll of plastic party decorations. All of these parts were saved for reuse.

IMPORTANT!
KEEP DECORATIONS CLEAR OF THE SPOKES, PEDDLES, HANDLE BARS, BRAKES AND WHEELS!

IT'S VERY IMPORTANT NOT TO LET ANY THE DECORATIONS INTERFERE WITH SAFE RIDING OF THE BICYCLE; ESPECIALLY ON CHILDREN'S BIKES. CHILDREN MAY NOT NOTICE IF DECORATIONS BECOME LOOSE AND / OR DANGEROUS. AN ADULT SHOULD ACCOMPANY CHILDREN RIDING IN THE PARADE.

BEFORE RIDING THE BICYCLE, DOUBLE CHECK EVERYTHING YOU ADD TO THE BIKE TO MAKE CERTAIN IT IS SECURE AND SAFE. PARADES SHOULD BE A FUN AND HAPPY CHILDHOOD MEMORIES.