A roving cultural festival spread along the bicycle track from Fairy Meadow to Woonona is hoped to be brought back in September for the UCI Road World Cycling championships.
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Organisers of Ride The Cultural Gong - a free festival with roving performers spread along the course - said Saturday's event was a success and they would be pitching another one for later in the year.
"It was great, it was everything we wanted it to be," said Shane Moon, spokeswoman for Laughter House Entertainment. "There'd been hesitation all week watching the weather report ... but Mother Nature gave us a win."
The festival was sponsored by Wollongong City Council and had been rescheduled from November to January due to previously bad weather.
Ms Moon said it was great for people to mingle and mix in a COVID-safe way, and organisers were hoping to stage another festival later in the year.
After a week of rain had been forecast for the Illawarra, the sun shone for 150 bike riders as they were grouped in 30 or 40, and set out from Fairy Meadow Surf Life Saving Club to watch an array of performers from acrobats and mermaids to storytellers and unicyclists.
Participant Sonia Milgate rode the course with her primary school-aged children and said it was refreshing to be able to attend a cultural activity again after months of lockdown, in a socially distanced setting.
"My favourite act was the unicycling ballerinas at Bellambi boat ramp - it was just hilarious, and so great to be outside and laughing and enjoying it," Mrs Milgate said.
"My kids really enjoyed storytelling at Woonona rockpools - it was really engaging for the kids. [Organisers] managed to have an amazing ending where a mermaid was swimming it the rockpools when the story finished. The kids were just amazed that they spotted a mermaid in real life."
Cycling festivals, whereby patrons ride between venues, have been part of European culture for decades.
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