Sick of car clogged streets and petrol-permeated air? Don't have an entire lifetime to fend off the oil fired juggernaut of the global automotive industry? If so, tomorrow's Art Street Car Free Festival in Taichung may offer a more mellow approach to supporting environmental awareness. And it's also a party.
Taking place from 2pm to 9pm, Taichung's Art Street (藝術街) will be shut down to motorized traffic and filled with artists, entertainers and events for kids. These include at least 50 Hare Krishnas, Elvis impersonators, jugglers, clowns and two music stages featuring a band line-up with Lady Bug, Milk, Long Haired Paul's tribal drum jam and several others.
The major focus of the fun, however, is going car free, at least as much as possible.
"We want to promote alternatives to cars and encourage people to cut down dependence on them," said Rory McMullen of Urban Movement, the festival's organizer.
"We're encouraging people to use bicycles instead of cars, not driving around in their cars alone, car-pooling, using public transport and other ways of limiting car traffic. Actually, Taichung is already doing some things on the right track, like no-car zones and other measures, so we're just getting on the wave and trying to offer further support," he said.
One of the performances will be by school children, who've prepared an anti-car skit. In it, the young protagonists find that they have no place to play, so to reclaim the streets, they chant "No cars! No cars! No cars!" The invented ritual manages to banish the automobiles from their local roadway and reclaim it for walking, cycling and playing.
There will also be cycling contests for kids with prizes supplied by Taiwan's top bicycle maker, Giant.
There will also be plenty going on for older activists. Lady Bug will perform with its original line-up of Ellie (阿利), Hsiao Bao (小寶) Man Yen-fen (滿延芬) and Wan-ting (琬婷). The four women formed the band in 1995 and quickly became one of the most influential bands in Taiwan's underground scene. Early success even took them on a tour of the US, where they were befriended by some well-known American bands, including Yo La Tengo, who eventually came to play in Taiwan in 2001. By that time Ladybug was rarely performing, as Wan-ting was off studying in the US. The band had also softened their early grrrl punk rock sound to instrumental post-rock, which accounts for all their more recent material. But when they perform, it's usually a combination of old and new, and that's what should happen tomorrow night on Art Street.
They'll be supported by the island's top party band, Milk, and five other acts. One artist will unveil a five-story mural. And just to make sure the music never stops, drum circles will keep pounding all day long.
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