The Missoula Tweed Ride

The Tweed Ride has finally come and gone, and after occupying my thoughts, and to- do lists for the last two months, I'm now left with reflections, lots of free time, and lots of tweed in my closet. All in all it was a huge success. We had double the crowd (around 100), and many more activities planned.

prepping! mopping/ sweeping? or pushing the dirt into
 the floor cracks? hard to tell the difference

I was able to put the finishing touches on peoples outfits the day of with I Need Tweed, but let go of the idea of expecting  money from it. We decided this year we'd just suggest people donate whatever they can for what they use.

The doors we put against the bike pit and tied twine cob
webs to

Also I rode a 3-wheel bike for the ride, which looked really neat, but was really hard to maneuver. I'm pretty sure everyone who saw me trying to get up the hills on the dirt path, and take sharp turns resulting in a collision with the curb, thought I was drunk. I would like to clarify that I was not.



Our first stop was for a photo, taken by Sean Kochel, who uses all antique photo equipment and prints on wet plates. It takes him about 10 minutes to get the camera focused (which was a challenge for kids), and then for the photo itself, we had to stay perfectly still for 30 seconds which sounds easy, but in those 30 seconds, every peep makes you want to giggle, and you suddenly get an itch under you nose, or feel like you have to cough. For the photo we also were fortunate to have "Doc" supply his antique bike collection to put in the foreground and make us look more authentic.

 We then went on, stopping for tea twice; once at Buttercup Cafe which was very quaint. The lady who runs this new little cafe set out homegrown apples, pastries, tea, and coffee all for free! The second stop was at Bernice's Bakery for more tea, and we then concluded our ride at Free Cycles where we ate soup, listened to music, got photos taken by Annie Florin, had a fashion show, and gave out prizes.

The Tweed Project

A section of our set up for "Sunday Streets"

Lately I've been working pretty hard on the Missoula Tweed Ride, which has kept me quite busy the last month and a half. To sum it up, it's a bike ride for which we dress up in tweed, or old fashioned english clothes. We ride leisurely through town on our cruisers, stopping at Bernice's Bakery for free for tea, and end at the community bike shop; Free cycles, for music, dancing, food, drinks, a fashion show of tweed, and prizes.

I've been very involved this year because my aunt; Judy, is a teacher at Spirit at Play which is the non- profit that the tweed ride raises money for. She's had me get involved with all sorts of things from PR to photo shoots. It just so happens that my mother, Judy, and myself all share an affinity for tweed which we hadn't realized until tweed rides came into our lives. My mom is in New York right now, mailing packages of tweed accessories every week, and sewing spats for prizes. We've had fun together collecting tweed this past year from Goodwills, Ebay, and churchsales, and we now have quite a stock dispersed between all our homes. I'm trying to create a rental service called I Need Tweed for our accumulated stuff but due a late start, and lack of marketing skills, it's kind of slow going. The main goal is to have it be well known by next year. In the mean time, we're in need of storage space, an inventory list, and right now we're in the negatives regarding cash flow.

Hats for rent!

So I'm constantly getting calls from judy asking for tweed related favors, which is sometimes exhausting but at the end of the day, an invaluable experience that gives me insight to the cogs and weels of managing a creative business. Right now I'm helping her decorate doors with twine making cobweb patterns. we've got around 15 doors to be lined up against the fence at Free Cycles to hide the bike pit for our party. I'm also expected to set up the party area all day on thursday, and then run some weird last minute errands I committed to, like going to the theater and asking for a bullhorn.

I know once this week is over, we're all going to collapse, but it's been so much fun. I really want to get Judy and my mom to team up and have a shop. Their style is so focused and consistent that it would work really well, unlike my own style which is all over the place. I even struggle with starting an Etsy store because I want to combine handmade, with artwork, and vintage items. It's impossible for me to have a narrow focus when it comes to my market and products. Frustrating!!

Well enjoy the photos I'm posting related to Tweed. My mom, Judy, and friend Janyssa are the models in them and they look supa fine. Why aren't people renting these awesome outfits?!

Also check out the Homecoming Parade photos of bikes. These 3 pictures are of people in the parade representing our Tweed Ride, and I dressed some of them!