Party bikes to roll through Winterhaven lights

The company’s three party bikes will seat 15 people each and will join trolleys and Jeep-drawn wagons as the festival enters its second year without the clip-clop of livestock. Last year, safety concerns and growing crowds motivated the decision to use vehicles instead of animals to pull the hayride wagons.

Bringing Arizona Party Bike into the mix this year is not a result of that change, said Robin Dolezal, the festival chairman.

In fact, it was Winterhaven board member Jeff DeConcini who discovered the cycling company while planning an upcoming family gathering. Immediately, he thought of his neighborhood’s Festival of Lights.

“Tucson is sort of a bike-friendly community by all accounts, and this bike is an entertaining thing, and it’s a great way for people to get together and see the neighborhood as a group of friends or family,” he said.

With interest piqued, Robert Mayer, the owner of Arizona Party Bike, took the Winterhaven board on a pedal-powered tour of their neighborhood several months ago. It was a hit.

“We jumped on the thing and putzed around the neighborhood on a test run,” DeConcini said. “Everyone who saw us cruising the neighborhood loved it.”

The hourlong tours of Winterhaven’s glittering lights will be a first for the company, as it ventures beyond the university and downtown areas where it usually operates. The bikes started touring Tucson in the spring but have been in production in Benson since 2011, Mayer said.

Currently, there are two party bikes cycling around Tucson. By the time the Winterhaven festival rolls around, three bikes will be dedicated to cruising the neighborhood each night.

“We’re not gas-powered, so there’s that,” Mayer said. “It’s 90 percent human-powered with a little assistance from an electric motor every once and a while, so it’s certainly novel. I think it’s a more active experience. You’re physically moving.”

With animals a no-go this year, Winterhaven Hayride is working on its own alternative to vehicles fueled by gas. Julie Wycoff owns the business with her husband Red Wycoff. They have participated in the festival for at least 14 years, taking visitors on wagon rides through the neighborhood. Now that 1970s Jeeps replace the mules, the Wycoffs want to convert those to run on propane instead of gas.

“What’s the change? Just what’s in front of the wagon,” Julie Wycoff said. “Now, hopefully, we’ll be able to make it cool again. Nothing will replace the teams, but the lights are there and the people are working hard.”

And so the festival pedals on for pedestrians, riders and drivers. Saturday, Dec. 27 is the only drive-thru night this year for those wanting to take their own cars through the neighborhood. Personal bikes are still discouraged.

“From the residents’ standpoint, the drive-thrus are just a nuisance ...” Dolezal said of only offering one night for cars. “Just like on the bike, you get a much more rich experience if you walk as opposed to driving through.”

With six spots on each side for pedaling and a bench for two or three in the back, the party bikes have no set age requirement. Basically, if you are too young to be out of a car seat, you are too young for the party bike, Mayer said.

But like on the tours downtown, riders can bring their own beer or wine as long as they keep open containers on the vehicle.

Because the tour is only one hour, Mayer does not think the presence of alcohol will affect the family-friendliness of the ride, and Dolezal said this year is a test run. A company driver controls the steering and brakes.

“The bikes themselves are just really unique, and they are really fun to be on, and it allows people to be out in the open air while enjoying the lights,” Mayer said. “And we have a sound system so we can play Christmas music while going down the streets.”