NEWARK, NJ - Wear your finest seersucker, linens, hats and caps and prepare to pedal your way through Newark at the 2018 Newark Historical Renaissance Ride on Saturday, June 16th. Check-in begins at 9:00 a.m. in Newark’s Washington Park (33 Washington Street). The ride begins at 10:00 a.m. Sponsors include the City of Newark, NCEDC and the South Ward SID.

Seersucker & Summer Linens is the seasonal fashion theme of the event celebrating cycling advocacy and the cultural and historic heritage of America’s great urban cities. Be sure to bring your signature look. Best dressed Woman and Male recognition will be awarded to the riders with the most-on-point style.

As the Seersucker Summer Social Ride tour route comes to completion, riders will convene for an After Social at the Newark Public Library, the fifth and final stop of the tour, for a curated history of cycling culture and architecture. Participants are invited to be social, relax, enjoy light refreshments and live music. Merchandise will be available for registered riders.

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The event is a passion project for the three partners who serve as visionaries and volunteers for the organization and its experiences.

“Newark was probably the perfect city to start a Renaissance Ride,” noted co-founder Hassan Abdus-Sabur. “It is literally transforming right before our eyes, so we feel that now is the perfect point in time to merge the past with the present and create a social, sartorial, and a historical experience like no other.”

“By making our beloved city the focal point and incorporating both historical and cultural aspects into the bike tour, we are seeking to dismantle long-standing, negative stereotypes regarding Newark and its residents,” added photographer and co-founder Paul Chinnery. “My goal is the same as my photo one - to change the narrative, one event or picture at a time.”

Stylish banners in the South Ward Special Improvement District (SID) highlighting the event will set the tone for a warm welcome. Ronice Bruce, the SID’s Executive Director, said with the riders traveling through so much of the South Ward, including Weequahic Park, down Bergen Street, and on to Clinton Avenue for a stop at the Amphitheater before heading to the library, the event provided the perfect opportunity to link Newark’s storied past with the growing buzz about its future.

“Redevelopment is already taking place throughout the SID’s Bergen Street, Lyons Avenue and Clinton Avenue corridors,” Bruce added. “We believe events like the Renaissance Ride are a great showcase for the positive changes taking place in the South Ward and other parts of the city.”





While Delanie West, who directs the team’s creative and marketing efforts, is a semi-competitive triathlete in addition to a leisure rider, she says participants don’t have to train for months to be a Renaissance Rider. “You just have to be stylishly outfitted and remember your biking skills from when you were a kid,” she concluded.

For more information, including sponsorship opportunities or to register, visit https://www.historicalrenaissanceride.org/. Don’t have a bike? You can rent one through the website.