Conway library to host movie, talk on bicycles

By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

CONWAY — The Faulkner County Library will host “Bicycles in America, Bicycles in Conway,” a Doc and Talk Movie night and discussion, at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

The documentaries to be screened are Return of the Scorcher (28 minutes long) and We are Traffic (50 minutes).

The screening of the films will be followed by a community discussion and presentation.

The discussion will be led by members of the Conway Advocates for Bicycling.

Ten copies of Lance Armstrong books will be given away as door prizes. The community is welcome to participate in the discussion following the movie. There will be free popcorn and drinks. Patrons are asked to help the library reduce and reuse by bringing their own bowl for popcorn.

Return of the Scorcher looks back in the 1890s and into the history of bicycles. At that time, bicyclists were the hottest, fastest things on what passed for roads in America.

They were referred to as “scorchers” because of their blazing speed in comparison to say, a team of mules. They started the “Good Roads” movement to start paving the highways, and then were quickly pushed aside by the development of the automobile. A hundred years later (1992), in a world filled with traffic jams and the ills of carcentric nations, Return of the Scorcher looks at a revival of the bicycle in American urban culture.

Filmed in the USA, China, the Netherlands and Denmark, the film looks at bikes as a choice mode of transportation and how bikes fit not only in the lifestyles of places like China and the Netherlands, but also how they’re making a change in everyday American culture.

We Are Traffic looks at the movement outlined in the Scorcher seven years later, as California cyclists decide one Friday evening to “take back the streets” and give motorists a small dose of their own medicine en masse through the streets of downtown San Francisco.

Both films were directed by Ted White, an award-winning film and videomaker for more than 15 years whose focus is on promoting transportation alternatives with an emphasis on bicycles.

Members of the Conway Advocates for Bicycling plan to discuss what the city intends to do to accommodate bikes and present general information on the organization. Peter Mehl, chairman of Conway’s Bicycle Advisory Board, will host the discussion.

For more information, contact Sarah Mattingly at (501)327-7482 or e-mail sarah@fcl.org.

River Valley Ozark, Pages 65 on 11/05/2009