HOUSTON — (Editor's note: the above video is from the Art Car Parade in April 2022.)
First, Houston had art cars. Now it has art bikes!
On Saturday, May 21, The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art and Houston Parks Board will host the first-ever Houston Art Bike Festival.
The day-long celebration gets going at 9 a.m. at MacGregor Park, where you can check out art bikes created by about 80 HISD classrooms and local artists.
"They are going to be really whimsical and beautiful and colorful and a really fun celebration of the bicycle," says The Orange Show's Jonathan Beitler. "They’ve been modified or they’ve been painted or they’ve added flowers or buttons or things glued onto them. It’s really a celebration of your own personal creativity."
RELATED: HIDDEN GEM: Art Car Museum
A number of local leaders are expected to attend the festivities, including Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, Houston Parks Board President & CEO Beth White, The Orange Show's Executive Director Tommy Ralph Pace and HISD Superintendent Millard House II.
The parade gets started at 10 a.m. from MacGregor Park, riding along the Brays Bayou Greenway to Fonde Park and Smither Park.
For 35 years, the annual Art Car Parade has rolled down the streets of Houston. The pandemic put the brakes on it in 2021 and 2022, but it roared back to life in 2022. According to organizers, Houston's Art Car Parade is the longest and oldest of its kind in the world.
RELATED: HIDDEN GEM: Beer Can House
Along with coordinating the Art Car Parade (and now the Art Bike Festival), The Orange Show also operates the iconic Beer Can House. You can learn more about it here.