İzmir Bike Party — April 23th

In Turkey we have no Halloween nor Carnival. I really envy those people who can enjoy their city while they turn into an open-air party like in Rio de Janerio, or in Cologne where people go to work with their funny clothes during the carnival or in the US where children have a lot of fun in their well prepared costumes during Halloween.

I feel like wearing costumes, I’d love to show up as Snow White in the office or as Cat Woman at the café around the corner. I would have no problem to do it, I’m soure I would look wierd, but I’m sure it would be even funnier if other adults join me.

So I looked for an excuse to invite my friends to a costume party and fixed the date.

In Turkey we celebrate the Children’s Day on April 23th, which is also recognized by UNICEF. During this unique event, schools take part to week-long ceremonies marked by performances in large stadiums watched by the entire nation. Among the activities on this day, the children send their representatives to replace state officials in their offices.

One of the problem of children in my country is that they are driven everywhere by car by their parents and often they have no opportunity to ride their bicycles mostly because their parents forgot how fun it is. The sad consequence is that many children barely know that streets are for humans; not for the cars.

Therefore came the idea: what if I organize a bike costume party on the Children’s Day? I would have plenty of children (and their parents all around me) dressed like superheroes, cowboys, fairies or dwarves, all riding their bicycles and enjoying the funnier ever party in town!

On the other hand, I won’t be the only crazy one dressed up like on carnival.

The implementation plan was pretty easy: I organized a Facebook event, I called it İzmir Bike Party, and I asked my friends to join and share it among their friends. They enjoyed the idea so much that in few days we reached more than 2,000 participants.

So, on April 23th at 2 p.m. I’ll finally have the opportunity to dress up like Snow White and ride my bike across my city without looking “crazy”. If you want to join me and my friends, you will find us at the Konak Clock Tower and we will cycle to the İzmir Culture Park (KültürPark).

And everyone lived happily ever after…

Pınar Pinzuti,

Izmir, Turkey