Bentonville Bike Fest presented by Mobil1 returns for the fourth year on May 23 through 26! There’s something for everyone at this year’s event: free-entrance festival and expo, racing, kids activities, dirt contests, workshops, and more. Event founder & Belgian cyclist Kenny Belaey and Director of Partnerships Jessy Heard give all the details on this year’s edition of Bentonville Bike Fest.
Special thanks to the dozens of sponsors and the volunteers who make this event happen.
You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.
Find us at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.
Bentonville Bike Fest presented by Mobil1 returns for the fourth year on May 23 through 26! There’s something for everyone at this year’s event: free-entrance festival and expo, racing, kids activities, dirt contests, workshops, and more. Event founder & Belgian cyclist Kenny Belaey and Director of Partnerships Jessy Heard give all the details on this year’s edition of Bentonville Bike Fest.
Special thanks to the dozens of sponsors and the volunteers who make this event happen.
You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.
Find us at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.
Hello, hello and welcome to Visit Bentonville's A New American Town podcast. I'm your host, Stevie, and today's episode is sponsored by OzTrails. Our guests are Kenny Bollet and Jesse Hurd with Bentonville Bike Fest. Welcome, Hello.
Speaker 2:Hello, hello.
Speaker 1:You guys are now three year returning to the show, so we'd love to have you back.
Speaker 3:It's exciting to be heading into year four. I feel like we're getting pretty good at this now and we're really excited to bring back everything that we had last year, plus some.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, super stoked, absolutely. And so, for our listeners who don't know, bentonville Bike Fest returns to Bentonville, arkansas, may 23rd through 26th, with a free festival and expo, racing, kids activities, dirt contests, workshops and more. We have a lot to cover, so let's jump right in. Kenny and Jesse, can you please introduce yourselves, and you don't have to be too modest about this. You two are amazing people.
Speaker 3:Go ahead, Kenny.
Speaker 2:Ladies first.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I'm Jesse and I am the partnership director for Bentonville Bike Fest. I've been on the team since, I guess, kind of day one. I mean, kenny had this awesome idea we talked about it in the fall of 2020, and I was really excited about it and I wanted to be part of it. So we've teamed up and I think we've done a pretty good job of growing this thing year over year. So that's what I do. I focus mainly on sponsors, because sponsors help us keep the festival free, and I also focus on exhibitors, because it's amazing to have as many brands as we have come, that our attendees can shop and see the latest and greatest innovation and bikes and components and gear and apparel and all the things. So that's really my main role is to bring in all the awesome brands.
Speaker 2:I'm Kenny Belay, I'm from Belgium, I'm 41 years old. Right now I'm semi-retired from trials Not really. I'm still doing a lot of shows all over the world with my trial bike and that's also what brought me here. A long time ago like almost 11 years ago now I did a performance here, got fell in love with bentonville, made it my us base camp and then, shortly after, had the idea of doing an event here, which was first the women's red event in 2019 and then 2020, put all the, put the foundation out for bike fest unfortunately had to cancel because of covid and then, uh, yeah, we went full throttle and all in, and in the meanwhile, in the first years, I was still doing all the competitions and, uh, traveling the world, and I'm still traveling the world.
Speaker 2:My trial bike um also been privileged to win the world championship nine times, won six world cups, four european titles. Um, I rode over a slackline long time ago that had like almost half uh, yeah, half a billion impressions all over the world, which was still pretty insane, and we're working on a new slackline project in amsterdam, so always busy. I'm also a dad now and, uh, this is a new challenge for me because I've been doing whatever I wanted for the last 30 years. So now having that little creature that I'm responsible of is super awesome and makes my life very, very interesting.
Speaker 1:Well, even with all that going on, we are so thankful that both of you could be here, both today and putting on this awesome event for locals and visitors. So let's get into Bike Fest. What is Bentonville Bike Fest, kind of summarized, and where is it going to take place?
Speaker 3:So I always like to describe it as a three-day full-on celebration of all styles of cycling, and that's really what it is. It's a party and it's got every aspect that you could want to experience at a festival, I think. There's music, entertainment, food, drinks, but in the bike scene, what makes us really special is that we celebrate all disciplines. So we do have gravel, we do have enduro, we do have trials, we have BMX, we have all all these different elements. That all come together and it's really inspiring because there's so many kids and families that come and they watch and they might not know what this style of cycling is or maybe they're a mountain biker, but they see that there's a really cool gravel workshop and so they get to dabble and experience different, uh different types of cycling with friends, and most of it's free to be part of. So that's really exciting.
Speaker 3:And, um, then you have all the water and the food and the beer and the party atmosphere, and then you have a hundred you know plus brands to shop. So what more could you ask for? And demos oh, oh, my gosh, free demo bikes. Thank you, stevie. Yes, that's one of the biggest, uh, I think biggest selling points is that you can leave your bike at home, come and ride from 20 different brands and ride their bikes all day and experience um the Bentonville trails on free bikes.
Speaker 1:And the demo situation is really awesome this year because the event is taking place on the Applegate Trail, which is right by Kohler, also not far from Slaughter Pen. Can you talk about how people should you know kind of plan their logistics if they park and ride or park and walk or ride their bike to the event?
Speaker 2:We have a shuttle parking right now that is finally secured. It's at Lee Scott Logistics Center. That's right off Northwest 3rd Street. It's pretty, very convenient. You can just park your car there and then the shuttle will pick you up, go to the event field. But of course, we encourage people to park also there and maybe ride their bike or maybe even ride a bike from downtown, because the city is really well equipped now and ready for people to, uh, you know, just use their bike as transportation and one day, once they get at the event field, they can just park their bike at our bike valet and people will take care of your bike thanks to pedal it forward. And, um, yeah, I think, uh, that's what we encourage. Just have more people on bikes, come to the bike fest and have everybody pulling the green card. Ecological, it's a european saying.
Speaker 1:I'm so glad you explained that, because I was like, oh wait, I'm not sure I know what he means by that I like to translate things literally and make and confuse people here failed successfully yeah one more thing when it comes to coming to bike fest.
Speaker 3:I know kenny mentioned the bike valet. I just want to call out that that is all executed for us by Pedal it Forward. So shout out to Kenny Williams and the Pedal it Forward team. They do an incredible job of taking care of everybody's bikes and we have an awesome partnership this year with them. So please come and park your bike and donate to Pedal it Forward.
Speaker 1:I love to hear that because they are such good, kind, genuine people and they're providing this service to people for no cost, so we'd love to give them a shout out here in Bentonville Now. Is there anything new taking place at this year's Bike Fest?
Speaker 2:Yes, we always try to innovate and bring on new events and, you know, make people go home and then wonder, like, what are they going to do next? So first we started with the trials competition, which was basically only the americans coming, and now we already have all the world champions from 20 inch, 26 inch and the female world champion participating. A very cool, exciting event now is the straight rhythm that we're gonna introduce to the people of Bentonville and beyond. So basically, two people racing could be on a BMX bike, a dirt jumper, a mountain bike on a straight line about 300 feet long, full of jumps, berms, features and, yeah, super exciting. It's something that comes from motocross.
Speaker 2:The red bull introduced that a long time ago. They do it on a 3 000 feet course, but yeah, we won't do that here. So, uh, it's going to be. Yeah, it's super exciting because it's head-to-head and especially once you go into the finals, you can see really who's fastest and it's right in the event field. So that's going to be super exciting. Oh nice, that sounds awesome. It sounds kind of like dual fastest and it's right in the event field.
Speaker 1:So that's going to be super exciting. Oh nice, that sounds awesome. It sounds kind of like dual slalom, but it's in a straight line. Yes, very cool.
Speaker 2:And we combine the bikes so people can kind of choose which bike is best for them.
Speaker 1:Cool, yeah, awesome. Well, that sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun, yeah.
Speaker 2:Hopefully a come and cheer them on. Well, everybody at the event field will be there already, so it's in our schedule. We have all these um, I always try to make sure that the final events have their own time slot so everybody can focus really in between shopping, uh and and seeing all the other events you know really focus on those final events, which is trials, finals, dirt dirt jump contest and the straight rhythm finals.
Speaker 1:Awesome. I know in the past this event has gotten about 15,000 visitors. What are you expecting this year?
Speaker 3:Well, I certainly expect to see 15,000 again, but we do hope that we'll see maybe 20,000 this year. I think that each year we've grown. We started out that first year in 2021 with around 5,000 to 7,000 people. We didn't really have an accurate way of tracking at that point in time. This past year, we implemented a registration system. It's still a free event, so it still doesn't cost anything to come in, but we do ask our attendees to register through our Stubs link on our website. We also share that out on social media, but that allows us to really know how many people are coming through the gates, which also then allows us to continue to grow our partners and bring in sponsors that get really excited to help us keep this thing free. So we'd love to see 20,000 people come this year and continue to grow it each year.
Speaker 2:Yep, I got nothing to say to add on that. I mean, Jesse nailed it.
Speaker 1:Everyone come out. Everyone come out. Register on Stubbs. We'll see you there.
Speaker 2:So the thing is, you know, bike Fest is designed. If you're living in a bike town, like we do here, if you do a bike event, you're 99% sure, you're 99 sure you're gonna get the, the bikers, to attend your event. That's kind of easy, I mean, there's a lot of events, so it's still, but it's still hard. So the mission of bike fest is how can we access, um make the biking accessible to the people that maybe heard about biking, they heard about Bentonville, they want to see it. The family, the, the kids that wants to get into biking.
Speaker 2:And that's what Bike Fest is. You are exposed to so many actions that everybody enjoys. So, for example, I've been riding for Red Bull for 20, 23 years. I've been doing shows at places that have nothing to do with bikes, and solely because they wanted me to be there, because I had to get the attention of the people, and afterwards some people might have gotten into biking. And that's what Bike Fest is. You know, not everybody has a bike at home, but I'm sure when they leave they want to buy one. And that's kind of the mission and why we want to have a lot of people and the 20,000 people to attend and get the bicycle vibe.
Speaker 1:And kind of a sidebar. I know one thing you've done in the past in town and I'm sure all over, is go to schools and do a little trials, performance and just seeing the videos of the children's faces just light up. It's so amazing. Are you doing anything like that again this year?
Speaker 2:we had first friday, I'm doing one at fayetteville university, um, and we are still actually, you know, hoping that some schools will sign up for a free demo. Because, first of all, um, yeah, I'm all about win-win, so the kids are super happy. I'm happy because, whether it's I'm performing in front of 20,000 people in an NBA show or for kids, I actually prefer the kids more because they give so much more love and if they can get into biking afterwards, I mean mission accomplished. So, yeah, I love doing those shows.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love that. So, kenny, you've talked about how you're from Belgium. You've traveled the world, racing and riding and doing trials and competing. Having all of that worldly experience, what made Bentonville, arkansas, stick out for you to be the home of this event?
Speaker 2:um, the support I got and the opportunities I got, um, not thrown at me but like, reached out to me and I grabbed them and, um, that's just unique. I mean I've been all over the place, um, and it's just a unique landscape. I keep saying it um, you got, you can't deny it. You need sponsorship to put on an event and luckily, because you're in Walmart's backyard, there's a lot of brands that want to support biking, so that ticks one box. Then you need an awesome town that people can go to find an easy way for accommodation and stuff Ticks another box. And then, thanks to the Walton Family Foundation and probably Tom and Stuart, we can say they created such a. They had a vision to make this a global mountain bike destination and they succeeded fairly well, really well. It takes another box, so it just ticks all the boxes and it's in a, in a place in America where there's not much event yet.
Speaker 2:So this was actually all the pieces fell into place and I still remember I was spending a lot of weeks here before even the Women's Shred idea, and I was staying in America for like four weeks, which was a huge commitment for me in the middle of my competition season, but I wanted to get those NBA playoff halftime shows and none of them was calling me like none of them. And that's when all the ideas came to me and I saw all the opportunity. And yeah, I always say that that wasn't coincidence, that was just meant to be for me to be here at the right time and the right place. And here we are, and here we are to be here at the right time and the right place.
Speaker 1:And here we are, and here we are, jesse, I think you can speak a little bit to this. Events like Bike Fest rely on amazing volunteers in our community. What are some available volunteer opportunities and how can people get in touch to fill those?
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh. Yes. So Bike Fest, honestly, would not be nearly as successful as it is and has been without the support of our volunteers We've had I think last year we had around 150, something like that. People come and donate their time and their efforts and labor, and so, yes, we do still have quite a few opportunities available. Bike Fest has a sign-up genius, a site for our volunteers to sign up on. One of the biggest needs right now is race support, because we do have so many competitions and races that aren't necessarily right there at the venue but out on the trails, and so that seems to be one of the harder volunteer roles to fill. Should I say that we are doing a race for a race?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So, I mean we only have a limited amount of spots, yeah, so we have a new concept this year actually, because we do get a lot of individuals will reach out and say, hey, any discounts on race entries or can I volunteer and earn my race entry? So we've come up with a solution for that and it's a race for a race. So basically, anyone can sign up to fill a volunteer role at any of the races to earn their entry on a different race. What an amazing concept. So I think that that appeals to you know a lot of folks in our community and beyond.
Speaker 3:You know, if you want to race the gravel Gravelicious, come and help us on Sunday at the Enduro. If you want to race Enduro, we really could use your help on the gravel race, you know, and also the kids races, which are one of the favorites because they're so fun to watch, they're so cute and small. So we need we have two children's races that could use some support as well. So again, sign up. Genius, it's posted on our website. There's a link that says volunteer and we can use your support.
Speaker 1:That's really awesome. I know there are a lot of events happening in the spring and between now and then, so for maybe someone who may not be able to financially make that work to do more races or more events, that's an awesome opportunity for them to just volunteer some time and then have that opportunity to race.
Speaker 3:Yes, and we're also elevating our volunteer experience. This year we have an awesome gentleman on our team who has been really excited to create Volunteer Village for us. So shout out to Brett McCormick for that. So he's actually pulling together different bike clubs and different groups and local organizations to kind of create this Volunteer Village. We'll have lots of swag food, lunch drinks, post-event, powwows, if you will. Food, lunch, drinks, post-event powwows if you will DJ A DJ.
Speaker 3:He's really making it a lot of fun. So that it's not just give my time, I get to race. It's really a community event and we're excited to see how that shapes out.
Speaker 2:So a new thing we're implementing is a loyalty card. So local businesses are giving a discount to the people that volunteer and they have like a proper card, like a credit card, and they can go to these stores restaurants, bike shops and they get 10, 5, 15% off if they volunteer at Bike Fest Awesome.
Speaker 3:Like a.
Speaker 2:Groupon kind of business model. Yeah, yeah, very cool, it doesn't cost anything to anyone and it helps the volunteers and the businesses and the businesses yeah, very cool, it doesn't cost anything to anyone and it helps the volunteers. So and the businesses and the businesses Perfect.
Speaker 1:Well, as we start to wrap up, I want to know what's the one thing you're looking forward to the most at this year's bike fest both of you.
Speaker 2:Good weather.
Speaker 1:Fingers crossed.
Speaker 3:For me it has to be the new brands that are coming. We have had so many new companies reach out this year. I always you know it's like usually me reaching out and calling on and emailing, and I think this year it's been almost 50% me doing the outreach but more like 50% coming to us. So we have a lot of new brands. I have a lot of new bike brands that have never been to Bentonville before, that are coming to Dem. So we have a lot of new brands. I have a lot of new bike brands that have never been to bentonville before, that are coming to demo bikes. Um, so yeah, that would probably be my most exciting thing I'm looking forward just to see a lot of happy faces.
Speaker 2:It's like I always feel like I'm I'm organizing a massive party and it's 10 months of uh yeah, I can't deny it's stress, because it's a lot of moving pieces and responsibility on my shoulders um, and then once a bike fest kicks in, I'm like like yes, finally. And then you see all the bikes and the people jumping and then hopefully nice weather and the dj and the music and then I'm like this is awesome. And then you know, I'm looking forward to, to that feeling of uh, seeing all the happy people and kids and people on bikes and just having a good time.
Speaker 1:Love it. So we've given everyone an overview of what they can expect at this year's event. Where can people find Bentonville Bike Fest online and where can they sign up to join all the fun?
Speaker 3:BentonvilleBikeFestcom is our website and it is loaded with information. Our schedule is there. You can actually click on the footprint and see all of the brands that are at the expo. There's a link to the volunteer sign up and then, of course, instagram and Facebook. We do a lot of social media posting so that people are in the know on what's to come, and there will be a lot more information going out on social as we head toward our big event.
Speaker 2:So and on bike ranch. So there's a link on our website, obviously, but you can also go to bike ranch directly, look for bike fest and then sign up for the. I don't know if you count it all together probably 80 lines of events you can choose from from workshops with Annika Beerton, Kyle Strait, Carson Storch, Jeff Lanosky, Hans Rey Carolyn. Am I missing somebody? No, there's so many.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's probably a few more, there's probably more, and then the Enduro, the Strait Rhythm, the Trials. So there's all the different categories the enduro, the straight rhythm, the trials and all the different categories. And yeah, it's a lot, but last year we had about 1,500 riders and let's hope my personal goal is 1,700.
Speaker 3:And we sell out every year. So sign up now. Don't wait to get your registration.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Jessie, All right. Well, thank you both so much for being here today. Bentonville Bike Fest returns to Bentonville, Arkansas, May 23rd through 26th. It'll be an awesome long weekend here in Bentonville Now. Thank you so much for your time and joining us on today's episode of Visit Bentonville's A New American Town podcast, and thanks to you, our listeners, for tuning in. Be sure to follow Odds Trails, visit Bentonville and Bentonville Bike Fest on social media. We'll see you out on the trails.