To combat the coronavirus, the Federal Council has imposed a ban on events with more than 100 people until April 30, 2020. The public event Urban Bike Festival has therefore been canceled - including all visitor activities and races such as Veloparade City Ride and Urban Cyclocross. The "spring get-together" for urban cycling culture was planned for the weekend of March 27-29, 2020, with over 20,000 visitors expected in Zurich West.

The numerous bike fans and festival visitors stranded at home will not be left in the lurch, however: Urban Bike Festival DIGITAL will turn the event into live broadcasts in compact form. Presenters and studio guests will inform and motivate viewers from the studio with bike-related topics and invite viewers at home to join in and interact. The formats are scheduled to be broadcast live on Saturday, April 25 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sunday, April 26 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on www.urbanbikefestival.ch, Facebook and Youtube as well as on television.
Talks with TV stations are underway.Work on adapting the public event for live broadcasts is in full swing. The aim is to integrate as many Urban Bike Festival program units as possible into the broadcast. The detailed program content and participants will be announced on the festival website one week before the broadcast.Compliance with all official requirements will be ensured. The announced date of April 25 and 26, 2020 will apply provided that the "extraordinary situation" is lifted by April 19, 2020. Otherwise, the date will be set for the next possible weekend after the situation has eased.

"Then we'll just go to the people"

The Urban Bike Festival 2020 has been in the works for months. The Urban Bike Expo has a record number of exhibitors. The representatives prepare their products for presentation. Acts such as the Drop and Roll Show with street trial world star Fabio Wibmer, bands and DJs are engaged. Numerous partners, suppliers, service providers, employees and helpers are ready to present an impressive spring festival to the cycling-interested public. Everything is ready. Construction should have started these days.

"It is a great disappointment for everyone involved in the Urban Bike Festival that the cycling event cannot take place this year. Of course, we support the ban and accept the measures that the Federal Council has ordered in favor of public health. But it's a bitter pill to swallow for everyone involved," regrets Erwin Flury, OC President of the Urban Bike Festival. And so the organizers are making a virtue out of necessity: "We didn't want to give our visitors or our partners and employees a simple cancellation two weeks before the event and leave them to deal with the damage on their own. So we thought to ourselves: if the bike fans can't come to Platz
then we'll go to them with Urban Bike Festival DIGITAL. A large proportion of the festival players can be involved in this way and are motivated instead of saddened!"

It remains to be seen how many viewers will be reached by the broadcasts. During a time characterized by negative news as well as event and sports competition cancellations, we are counting on the solidarity of cycling fans.

Further prospects

A postponement of the Urban Bike Festival 2020 was examined, but is not possible. The next Urban Bike Festival will therefore take place in spring 2021. The date of the event is currently being clarified.

www.urbanbikefestival.ch