Take A Peek Into The Bike Bemidji Loop The Lake Festival

It doesn’t matter if you finish first or last in the Bike Bemidji Loop the Lake Festival, because this bike ride isn’t a competition.

‘The Bike Bemidji Loop the Lake Festival is a celebration,” said Bike Bemidji Loop the Lake Festival Volunteer Coordinator Donna Palivec. “It’s meant to celebrate what bicycling means to the Bemidji area.”

For the fourth annual festival, bicyclists journey on a 17-mile bike route and most riders are family groups. The ride will begin at the Sanford Center at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.

“It will go over to Paul Bunyan Drive, by way of the Paul Bunyan trail and it will follow the south shore of the lake,” said Palivec. “Then it will go through Paul Bunyan Park, Library Park onto Lake Boulevard.”

All you have to do is follow the signs.

Event organizers are already setting up for the event where it takes more than 120 volunteers to pull it off. Loop the Lake is inclusive and also promotes a healthy lifestyle.

“We want to be advocates for biking in Bemidji as way to get good physical activity,” said Palivec.

Riders have some things to look forward to along the way.

“We have food and we have local musicians in the Ruttger’s lodge,” said Palivec.

The time it takes to complete the ride ranges between three to four hours, but riders will have seven hours to finish.