Shelby Bicycle Days takes place July 10-12, 2014, and this year some changes are being made to Shelby’s annual summer festival. To start with, the days of the event are changing.
The festival will be held on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday instead of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Potential new ideas are also in the works for the festival this summer.
“We would like to possibly have a historical bike walk. There would be history provided of the bikes and we want locals to provide bicycles to put in the storefronts downtown. These bikes can be very rare to find,” said Festival Co-Director Christina Thompson.
The Shelby Cycle Manufacturing Company manufactured bicycles in Shelby from 1896 to 1953. In 1896, the company already had 300 employees.
But the committee is interested in other vintage bikes as well.
Festival Co-Director Cody Albert shared some new events that will be taking place at the festival this summer. “We have been going over some ideas of what we want to do this year because our focus is on the bicycle. We are for sure going to have a BMX Stunt Show on Thursday,” said Albert.
“There will be kids from kindergarten through sixth grade from both Richland and Crawford Counties that will be invited to this show. That is about 16,000 students all together. Along with the stunt show, there will be a display of safety service vehicles,” said Albert.
Sponsors of the stunt show include Ohio Mutual Insurance Group in Bucyrus and Adams, Albert, and Curry, Inc in Shelby. “Without the sponsors this would not be possible and we are happy to bring them aboard,” said Albert.
“Spokes 4 Kids Community Challenge” will take place on Friday, July 11. “We want to help create a healthy community and the challenge is among teams of businesses and community groups to compete in. Towards the end, adults will assemble the bikes that will be put together and then raffled off to the kids who attended the BMX Stunt Show,” said Thompson.
The parade will be held on Saturday, July 12. This year, children will be able to ride their bicycles in the parade. “Before the parade, there will be a decorating station set up for kids to decorate their bikes for the parade. We welcome volunteers to help out in any way,” said Albert. “The parade goes well and always draws in large numbers of people from the community,” said Thompson.
While the parade is the highlight for the afternoon event, the fireworks in the evening are the main attraction. “The largest draw of the festival is the fireworks. We thought if we moved the days of the festival, we could cap the festival off with the display of fireworks,” said Albert.
“This year we wanted to find events that matched the goals of bringing the bicycle back as the focal point of the festival because that is what it is all about,” said Albert.
Carnival rides will also be returning to the festival this year.
For information regarding volunteering for Bicycle Days, contact Cody Albert at 419-566-8838. And visit them on Facebook.
According to an 1896 edition of the Shelby Republican newspaper, the first order received by the new “Cycle Factory” was for 1,000 bicycles from Mr. Thos. Varney, of San Francisco, CA. “Mr. Varney is known as having the finest retail bicycle store in the world,” read the news. The Shelby Cycle Co. also had recently made a shipment to British Columbia.
The first Ideal bicycles were manufactured in January 1896. Their No. 1 Ideal model sold for $75.
Another snippet from the newspaper reported that “The Shelby Cycle Mfg. Co., besides having their own electric light plant, have also their own artificial gas plant, used for brazing, annealing and enameling purposes, and can be used for illuminating when necessary.”
“Railroad passengers and citizens of Shelby note particularly the brilliant display of electric light at the works of the Shelby Cycle Mfg. Co. On dark nights especially do the lights, streaming from the many windows, form a fairy picture of beauty and activity. It is necessary to work an extra force of men all night to meet the demand for Ideal Bicycles.”
The company was so industrious, it produced a scarcity of houses in Shelby. A. W. Gump, vice president of the company, purchased thirty acres of land behind his residence on Marvin Avenue. Houses were erected on the land especially for the housing workmen at the Cycle Factory. Lots were platted and houses finished and some “sold on long payments to parties who prefer to purchase instead of renting.”
The majority of lots were located on Jeffrey Avenue and an additional eight lots faced West Smiley.
