Sample Feature Story for Release Approximately
Two Weeks before Event
Bulletin #: 08a
Prepared: 1973-03-01
Revised: 1994-01-01
For Immediate Release
From: Don Adams, Meet Chairman
214 Maywinn Rd.
Defiance, OH
For information Call 784-4010
Defiance, Ohio--The color, pageantry, and sounds of an 1880s bicycle meet will be recreated in Defiance, Ohio, Saturday and Sunday, June 5 and 6, when Wheelmen from the eastern states and throughout the Midwest join in the second Johnny Appleseed Wheelmen Festival which is free and open to the public and will be held on The Defiance College campus.
Organized in 1967 in Pennsylvania, The Wheelmen is an organization of antique bicycle enthusiasts who collect, restore and ride high wheel bicycles and other bicycles from the 1880s and 90s. Wheelmen also recreate the golden age of bicycling, that time in your great grandfather’s day when the original Wheelmen organization had over 100,000 members and was the largest athletic organization in the country.
The Festival officially opens at 10:45 AM Saturday when Wheelmen, dressed in the uniforms of their state, mount for a parade through downtown Defiance and out to Independence State Park, a round-trip distance of 13 miles. At 3:00 PM over 100 bicycles will be on display for judging on the lawn outside the College Community Center. This display will continue until 5:00.
Sunday, starting at 10:00 AM, all bicycles will be exhibited at the College athletic field and activities will begin on the track at 11:00 AM and will include coasting contests, races, and riding demonstrations and tests of skill. Sunday afternoon activities conclude at 4:00.
Advance registrations indicate that this will be the largest assemblage of antique bicycles to be brought together since The Wheelmen organization has been in existence.
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