Tour de Fat

There are a few events that truly define Flagstaff. The Flag Mountain Film Festival, the county fair and demolition derby, the pine cone drop on New Years, and salsa dancing on Heritage Square. But none is more quintessential that the Tour de Fat, or Fat Tire Fest as it's known by the locals.

It's about bikes, it's about beer, it's about costumes and a bike parade and drinking in the afternoon while riding in a bike rodeo and watching unicycle jousting and dancing to half a dozen bands.

Sponsored by the New Belgium Brewery of Fort Collins, Colorado, the Tour visits a couple dozen cities in the western US, concluding with a run through Arizona, and that means Flagstaff. For the last who knows how many years, Flagstaff has led every city in the Tour in beer consumption, costume wearing, bike fanatasism, and general debauchery. This year was no exception, as Flagstaff drank over 196 kegs of beer in an afternoon in the park, and saw well over a thousand people/bikes in the parade. Incidently this far outpaces any other city in the Tour, including their home town of Fort Collins. Makes me proud to be from Flag.


Put down the pint glass long enough to take a spin on some of the bikes in the bike rodeo.

Parade registration.

Notice the keg cycle in the left corner. Riding in style, if not with speed.