Bikes and Blues (and Water) Festival 2024

Save the date - August 24, 2024. Elora-Fergus, Ontario

One of the exciting initiatives in which I am is Water Cycles Expeditions. This organization has a mission of re-connecting people with water by providing bicycle tours. Water Cycles was founded by Dustin Garrick, a professor in Environmental Studies at the University of Waterloo (and an avid cyclist), and his partner Heather Garrick, and have kindly asked me to support their team!

Last month, Water Cycles led a 20-kilometre ride that started at the University of Waterloo and explored the Laurel Creek watershed, which travels through the City of Waterloo and feeds into the Grand River near Bridgeport. We had about 40 enthusiastic folks show up for the ride!

Here’s the enthusiastic group I led to the headwaters of Laurel Creek in Columbia Forest. The trails were fun… and hilly!

The flagship event for 2024 is the Water Cycles Bikes and Blues Festival. 2024 marks the event’s second year and the location has changed from Belwood to the Wellington County Museum, which lies about halfway between Fergus and Elora.

This festival includes guided bike rides in the morning followed by an afternoon of activities, including kids’ games and a music concert! This year, three ride distances are offered: 10-15 km (family and kids aged 10+), 30 km, and 100 km. It’s a ride, not a race, and there will be opportunities to stop and learn about some of the interesting water features in the area.

For example, the Shand Dam (which lies between Fergus and Belwood) was built over 70 years ago to help control the flow of the Grand River and prevent flooding further downstream. Also, the 100 km ride will feature a loop around Luther Marsh, which features another dam as well as a wetland complex that is home to many species of wildlife.

The Shand Dam, with Belwood Lake behind the dam and the Grand River downstream. (Source: Grand River Conservation Authority)

Here’s a YouTube video of Dustin and I cycling at Luther Marsh (credit: Glen Johannesson).

You will need to sign up but the guided rides are free. The festival, which includes live music (Tragedy Ann, Kristine Schmitt and Andrew Penner), plus activities for kids, food and drinks, requires the purchase of tickets (details can be found here).

I want to encourage anyone with a bike to come out and join! I have a lot of cycling friends who can easily ride the 90-100 km Luther-Marsh loop. And I have a lot of friends who have worked with water and are recreational cyclists and could easily join the 30 km ride. If you have any questions about the bike rides or the festival, reach out to me in the comments below!

Thanks for reading The Water Droplet! Stay tuned for more articles on water.