Editor's note: This story was originally published in the .
One magical night each summer, people took to the by the thousands, pedaling cruisers and racing bikes, tandems and hybrids, recumbents and tricycles.
Some decorated bicycles with American flags or neon lights. Others dressed like cowboys, space aliens or movie characters. A few carried boomboxes. People who lived along the route sat in lawn chairs, rang cowbells and cheered from yards lit by tiki torches and fire pits.
The spectacle was known as , and it鈥檚 ending after 19 years. The city鈥檚 Parks and Recreation District will hold one more ride this summer.
鈥淪afety is always a concern,鈥� said Jason Poole, director of Public Works, which includes Parks and Recreation. 鈥淧utting people on the streets of Belleville on a Friday night is not the safest thing to do anymore.
鈥淲e鈥檝e never had a major issue. We鈥檝e had quite a few accidents but nothing major, and we were concerned that something could happen.鈥�
Helmets are required on the ride, but some bicyclists don鈥檛 wear them. Participants sign liability waivers, but if someone got hit by a car, the city could be named in a lawsuit, Poole said.
Officials made Tour de Belleville a The following year, they moved it to a and subdivision in the vicinity of Eckert鈥檚 Orchard. Participation plummeted.
鈥淚t just didn鈥檛 have the feel of Tour de Belleville,鈥� Poole said.
鈥淚t was a great family event. The people who participated really liked it. But the feedback was, 鈥業t鈥檚 not Tour de Belleville, and if you鈥檙e not going to have it in downtown Belleville, you shouldn鈥檛 call it Tour de Belleville.鈥欌��
The last ride
Other factors in the decision to end Tour de Belleville were costs and manpower, according to Poole.
If the city went back to nighttime rides on city streets, he said, it would have to spend an estimated $10,000 a year in overtime wages for more than 20 police officers to stand patrol at intersections and six Street Department employees to block off and reopen streets.
The ride has always been a fundraiser. Money from registration fees, sponsors and raffles have paid for more than $260,000 in police safety equipment and parks and recreation improvements in the past 18 years.
When asked why proceeds aren鈥檛 used to pay overtime wages, Poole said officials also have to consider the time of city employees.
鈥淲e have a lot of other events going on downtown, and it taxes our city employees when they鈥檙e forced to work event after event after event,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t wears on the them. It鈥檚 a challenge.鈥�
The Parks and Recreation Department has scheduled the last ride, dubbed the Sunset Tour de Belleville, for Friday, July 12.
It will go back to being a nighttime ride on city streets, although the location is different. Bicyclists will start and finish at the Southwestern Illinois Justice & Workforce Development Campus, formerly Lindenwood University-Belleville, on West Main.
Poole foresees the the city continuing to sponsor a daytime bike ride each summer but under a different name.
Founded in 2006
who founded Tour de Belleville in 2006 with his wife, Barb Elmore, described news of its demise as 鈥渉eartbreaking.鈥� But he accepts the decision. He noted that the city no longer has auxiliary police officers, and it鈥檚 harder to recruit volunteers than it used to be.
鈥淚t鈥檚 gotten very expensive,鈥� said Elmore, who now serves as a Ward 7 alderman. 鈥淚 think it may have just run its course.鈥�
Ward I Alderwoman Lillian Schneider seemed similarly resigned.
鈥淚鈥檓 glad it was started because of the money raised,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut it takes a lot of volunteers, and it鈥檚 gotten to the point that there鈥檚 hardly any volunteers in the city of Belleville.鈥�
The Elmores planned the first ride to help Schneider, who had been holding bake sales and otherwise trying to raise $13,000 to buy the city a portable electronic speed monitor to slow down traffic in neighborhoods.
Tour de Belleville was billed as a non-competitive, family-friendly ride patterned off the popular Moonlight Ramble in St. Louis. The name was adapted from the Tour de France.
鈥淲e were just trying to do something fun for our neighborhood, and (more than 500) people showed up,鈥� Elmore said last week.
The first ride on Friday, July 14, 2006, consisted of one 7-mile route on city streets in east Belleville. Bicyclists started at 9 p.m. at Union United Methodist Church on East Main Street.
鈥淚 really enjoyed riding down Garden Boulevard,鈥� participant Debbie Kruep told the BND that year. 鈥淢y husband, my nephew and my dad, who is 69, rode along with me. We had a really good time.鈥�
The ride鈥檚 first sponsor was Hal Leventhal, owner of the which closed last year. Artist Gary McCoy designed the first logo for T-shirts, featuring Otto, the city鈥檚 German mascot, riding a bike. Beatnik鈥檚 in Belleville printed them.
Hit from the starting line
Tour de Belleville participation nearly doubled the second year. Organizers created two different routes, one 7 miles and one 14 miles. They also sold tickets for a bicycle raffle, offered picnic meals at Nichols Community Center and distributed blinking safety lights to all.
Afterward, Elmore rode his bicycle into Belleville City Council chambers to deliver a check for $23,000. That allowed the city to buy two emergency-call-button towers for bike trails and a bike rack for police.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 have been prouder to see 1,038 people riding the streets of Belleville,鈥� said former Mayor Mark Eckert, now deceased. 鈥淚 think this is a tremendous family event. ... It was a great evening in Belleville.鈥�
The Elmores chaired the ride for two more years, although it officially became a Parks and Recreation Department event. Participation continued to grow with 1,362 bicyclists the third year and 1,609 the fourth. East Main Street became part of the route in 2009.
鈥淚t couldn鈥檛 have been better,鈥� Elmore said after that ride. 鈥淏elleville never ceases to amaze me. The economy is down this year, but people still came out. The Tour de Belleville is going to live forever. I have no doubt in my mind.鈥�
In later years, annual themes such as 鈥淭hree-Hour Tour鈥� from the TV show 鈥淕illigan鈥檚 Island鈥� and the 100th anniversary of Scott Air Force Base prompted people to decorate bikes and dress in costume. Pre-ride parties in the Union United parking lot featured bands, raffles, photos and repairs.
Beatnik鈥檚 owner John Bigalke remembers people who lived along the route throwing parties in their front yards, grilling brats and watching bicyclists pass by from lawn chairs.
鈥淭hey were cheering us on like we were heroes,鈥� he said.
Diane Ely, of Belleville, was part of a group of 22 family members and friends who wore pirate costumes for the 2009 ride. They returned the following year with bikes decorated like cows.
鈥淲e just enjoyed bike rides, and I think the idea of riding around downtown Belleville at night sounded fun,鈥� Ely said last week. 鈥淚t was a great activity. But it just got so big so fast.鈥�
COVID-19 woes
Tour de Belleville had more than 2,300 bicyclists and 200 volunteers for the 2014 ride. Its theme, 鈥淣o Place Like Home,鈥� prompted people to dress like Dorothy, the Wicked Witch and other characters from 鈥淭he Wizard of Oz.鈥�
About 1,500 people participated in 2019, the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and canceled the 2020 ride.
鈥淚t was kind of like a mountain,鈥� Poole said. 鈥淚t climbed and climbed, and it peaked around 2,300 participants, and then it was declining every year after that, and then COVID hit.鈥�
About 650 bicyclists showed up for the 2021 daytime ride on city streets that was held in October instead of July due to the pandemic.
Participation dropped to about 400 bicyclists in 2022, when the pre-ride party took place at Eckert鈥檚 Orchard. Routes included St. Clair County Transit District鈥檚 Orchard Loop Trail and streets in The Orchards subdivision.
鈥淭here鈥檚 only one Tour de Belleville, and it鈥檚 sad to see it go,鈥� Elmore said last week. 鈥淚 would have loved to see a solution to keep it going, but I couldn鈥檛 come up with one.鈥�
This year鈥檚 pre-ride party will begin at 6 p.m. July 12 with food trucks, a bike raffle and music by the Righteous 5 band at Southwestern Illinois Justice & Workforce Development Campus at 2300 W. Main St.
Bicyclists will have the option of covering a 6-mile or 11-mile route, beginning at 8 p.m. Registration costs $25 in advance (6 and under free) or $35 at the event. Participants will receive complimentary T-shirts. The city is bringing back Gary McCoy to design the logo.
Teri Maddox is a reporter with the , a news partner of 漏 2024 外网天堂.
