The Vancouver Island Music Festival draws thousands of people every year from the Comox Valley, Vancouver Island and beyond.
However, thousands of people all coming to the same place tends to make parking a bit difficult. However, thanks to the volunteers at the festival there's another way to get there that won't cause all of the headaches that come with trying to find that perfect parking spot.
Steve Allen is the coordinator for the Bike Lock Up at Musicfest. Allen and his team will be running the service every day of the festival, giving people who ride to the festival a safe and secure place to leave their bikes while they dance the night away.
"The bike lockup is a free service provided by Musicfest to encourage people to ride their bicycles and instead of driving cars and clogging the roads," Allen said as he was setting up this year's bike lock up station.
The service works like this: people ride up to the bike lock up, located just north of the accessible parking area. They drop their bikes off with a volunteer, who gives them a ticket. When they are ready to leave, they return to the lock up, return their ticket and ride away.
"There are two people on shift at any given time. We're pretty careful about making sure that nothing goes missing. These are people's children," he added, referring to the bicycles that will soon be filling the stands he was setting up.
The stands are provided by the Comox Valley Cycling Coalition, one of the long-time sponsors of the bike parking operation.
"The coalition uses (the racks) all around the valley with no charge to people who need them," he said.
It is located just north of the curling rink building, with plenty of space for bikes. Last year over 750 brought their bikes to the festival, a number Allen hopes to beat this year.
"You know, we'd like to see 800," he said. "Maybe we could break 1,000 this year."
No matter the number, to Allen 鈥� who is also a member of the coalition, more people on bikes is always a good thing.
"It's another way of encouraging more people to get on their bikes throughout the valley,' he said. "I'm a big advocate of cycling in general, and I believe it's a way for a sustainable future for our towns and cities and to make places more livable. It's safer for everybody who goes on the road and just a more pleasant atmosphere."
The bike lock up is open for business at 8 a.m. on Friday.
