This weekend, June 10 & 11, was Plainville Saddle Club’s Rodeo and the Paradise Creek Festival. We were busy Friday evening preparing for the Paradise Creek Gravel Ride and attending the rodeo. Saturday, we were caught up in gravel ride registration, plus leading the bikes in the parade. That said, from what we could see of the outside and our experience inside the bubble – it’s been a great festival!

Once again, Plainville Memorial Library provided a selection of bicycle decoration kits for willing kids to choose from on Friday evening. Late morning Saturday, Bret arrived at the staging area on his Trek road-hybrid to lead a pack of more than a dozen young cyclists in the parade.

“I think the parade was a little more organized than last year. Even though there were fewer bosses, the bar was set pretty high last year and the parade entrants rose to it this year,” said Bret.

There appeared to be fewer parade entries overall. When Bret arrived at staging, all of the bicycles along with the ATV/ORV teams were resting in the shade of Plainville High School gym while enclosed vehicles ran their AC in the lineup. When the time came, the motorized rec vehicles slipped into line with bicycles behind them. Easy-peasy.

Still quite hot

Last year, even though the parade was earlier in the morning, a long delay to start – in part caused by the high number of entrants – combined with high temps and no wind to make waiting an exercise in exhaustion for the young cyclists. Very few riders, if any, had bottle cages and bottles, and complaints about the temperature started quickly.

This year, a cooling breeze made the shorter wait more comfortable, even though it was easily in the 90s by the time the parade rolled. Smartly resting in the shade before time helped. By the end of this year’s parade, even Bret was parched and barely sweating.

He tells, “I had bottled water in my truck left over from the gravel ride. So I called all the young riders with me over to my tailgate and fished out a cold one (of water) from the cooler for everyone.”

Fewer entries, more spectators

“There were noticeably more people watching the parade compared to last year,” Bret said, “which obviously were all the people not in the parade, but maybe there were more Festival attendees.”

Spectators lined Mill street from Plainville Avenue all the way to the city park, where the leading parade entrants pulled off to watch who came behind them. Last year, attendance petered-out around Broadway, and then nothing.

“It felt better this year. It’s satisfying to see everyone who braved the heat to simply see who parades past. I doubt my young riders noticed, but maybe they did – they seemed easier to manage.” Last year, Tyler Plante rode his bicycle with a stroller trailer attached. Bret explained, “he rode herd, keeping the stragglers in line while I set pace and tried to maintain our group. We did okay [this year], but I still missed having a sweeper.”

There were also more activities downtown, which brought out more of the public. A space was found for residents from Redbud nursing home to watch.

Lessons Learned

Downtown Plainville, Inc. provided the event coordination for the weekend. Using a distributed empowerment model, businesses and citizens were encouraged to act on their vision and DPI would publicize it.

“From the amount of activities and turnout, I think its clear this system is working. There are still a few kinks; a single point-person for questions and information, or/and an event marshall to make decisions when needed in real-time to resolve conflicts are still needed, I think. And that’s about all,” said Bret. “Everyone did a great job this year, no matter their part!”

“I think tailgate water was a great finish. I might try to have some half-pint water bottles in a backpack for riders to drink during staging. And maybe see if we can remind parents through the Library to have them in sunscreen, and to make sure the riders know where they are to go when the ride is over.”

“My group of riders was great! Everyone paid attention and got-along to ride-along,” said Bret. “I’m already looking forward to next year!”