Tour De Yorkshire
Photo Credit: John Morgan via Wharfedale Observer
2016 saw the second year of the exciting Tour de Yorkshire event for Otley on Saturday 30th April. With both the men’s and women’s race starting in the town we expected to welcome a large number of cyclist and family visitors looking for Otley to give the riders a great send off and a day to remember.
With this in mind we got busy in the background bringing lots of projects to fruition:
Econ Bike Collaboration
Otley BID joined forces with Ripon based company ECON to paint 8 bicycles which were positioned in different locations throughout the town.
ECON, the UK’s largest manufacturer of gritters and salt spreading vehicles, kindly agreed to powder coat the bikes free of charge for display around the town in the run up to the largest event in Yorkshire’s calendar.
Peter Mudge of Otley BID said “We would like to thank ECON for letting us take up valuable time in their paint shop, the Local Police and to Craig Mason of Greenholme Carpets & Flooring and Peter Heald of Otley BID for sorting out the collection and delivery of the bikes. This is a great example of businesses throughout the region coming together to celebrate tourism within Yorkshire and the Tour.
Andrew Lupton, Joint Managing Director of ECON, added “We were delighted to work with the Otley BID team to bring these attractive cycling symbols to the town of Otley. We worked on a similar project throughout the Harrogate Borough 2 years ago and it was a tremendous success. We hope residents and visitors to the town enjoy them for years to come.”
The 8 bikes were located at the entrances to the town on Pool Road and on Leeds Road, at the Otley Courthouse, Stephen Smiths, Lunds Carpets and outside the temporary Otley Information Office which was set up for the Tour on Saturday 30th April (in the old Motor World shop next to Weegmans Butchers).
Flag Collaboration with Prince Henry’s Grammar School
Otley BID also collaborated with students at Prince Henry’s Grammar School to design 50 unique flags to celebrate Otley starting Stage 2 of the Tour de Yorkshire.
The 5th and 6th form students were asked to create a series of different designs depicting various images of Otley in a striking yellow and black theme.
Peter Mudge from Otley BID explained, “The students were tasked with creating flags for the Market Square. We were blown away by the designs, so much so that all 50 were commissioned and printed. We have also included each student’s Christian name on their own flag so that they can feel proud of what they have achieved. The project is a great example of young people getting involved and taking pride in their hometown and what it has to offer.”
Shane Green, Head of Art & Design at Prince Henry’s said “The Art Faculty has thoroughly enjoyed working on this project with the Otley BID, and it has been of great value to our students seeing their own work exhibited in public. Seeing the range of individual interpretations of the design brief has been beneficial to their creative process and seeing their names up in silk in their own town has been wonderful.”
Alice Waites, Year 12 student commented “We learnt new technical skills throughout the initial design and development process to ensure that the flags all looked consistent when displayed together, which proved really interesting and useful. It was certainly a very inspiring project and it’s great to now see our work on show for everyone to see.”
All 50 designs were seen throughout Otley town centre on Market Street, New Market and Bondgate.
Street Bunting
We purchased 1,500 metres of colourful bunting which was used to drape down both sides of Boroughgate and across the Market Place in advance of the Tour.
Refurbishment of Street Furniture
Prior to the race the re-painting of the street furniture was introduced (traffic lights, signs, lampposts etc) and the aim is to get key areas done before the Tour.
For more information on this project CLICK HERE
Window Artwork for Empty Shops
To ensure the town looked it’s absolute best for the thousands of spectators who would descend on Otley during the weekend of the Tour, we also placed vinyl graphics in windows of premises not yet open to make them look more visually appealing.
Field Art
Knowing that the world was watching and our town was potentially going to be televised across the globe, we also funded a piece of field art showing a design of a cyclist on the spare piece of land opposite Wharfemeadows Park.