Madison residents will have an opportunity to explore Indigenous history and public art by bicycle when the Brazen Dropouts lead a community bike tour of the Teejop Community Art Project on Sunday, Oct. 11.
The 22-mile ride will visit all five Teejop Community Art Project sites throughout Madison, using the city’s network of bike paths and bike boulevards to connect the locations.
The Teejop Community Art Project promotes awareness of the more than 14,000-year human history of Teejop, or Four Lakes, through public art installations at places important to Hoocąk (Ho-Chunk) people. The project explores the past and present relationship between Hoocąk people and Teejop.
“It’s a 22-mile bike ride starting at Café Domestique (on Madison’s North Side) and then going through the isthmus, down to the UW Arboretum, over to the West Side and then back to the Capitol to check out the five sites of Teejop,” said Eric Staats, who organizes the Teejop Community History Bike Tour. “The bike ride starts at 10 a.m., but we encourage people to arrive a little early to socialize and get some coffee or something to drink.”
The five sites feature different themes and perspectives intended to encourage visitors to learn more about the Indigenous history of the Madison area and the significance of the landscape.
(Photo by David Dahmer)
Participants will meet at Café Domestique on 557 North Street between 9 and 10 a.m. before the ride begins. The Brazen Dropouts, a Madison cycling club, will lead the tour with support from Café Domestique.
Staats says the tour grew out of a shared interest in cycling and the Teejop Community Art Project.
“It’s really a good combination of our interests,” he says.
The tour is designed as a casual group ride and is open to anyone interested in experiencing the Teejop sites by bicycle. Riders will spend approximately 20 minutes at each location, with the group expected to reach the final exhibit near Capitol Square around 2 p.m.
A planned stop at the Allen Street Café Domestique will give riders an opportunity to take a break on the return from the Merrill Springs site. Located on Lake Mendota, Merrill Springs Park features three stone benches and a spring cistern built in 1934 by the Wisconsin Emergency Relief Administration. Café Domestique will provide participants with a complimentary drink.
The route will primarily use bike paths and bike boulevards, with riders expected to follow traffic signals and share the paths respectfully with other users.
“This event is for anyone in the community who’s interested and has a bike that can go about 10 miles an hour. We want everyone to come out and join us,” Staats says.
Staats says the tour is intended to introduce more people to the Teejop Community Art Project while giving participants an opportunity to enjoy Madison’s bike paths.
“I think first and foremost we just want people to be able to see the excellent work that the Teejop Community Art Project has done,” he says. “I think the secondary goal is to spend some nice time on a beautiful fall day on the Madison city bike paths with a good group of people.
“There are a lot of burial mounds around Madison and for many people they are kind of mysterious. For many years, there wasn’t much known about them,” he adds. “So this is a chance to learn about them.”
Organizers encourage participants to ride whatever type of bicycle is appropriate for the pace. E-bikes are welcome for riders who are comfortable riding in a group and maintaining the group’s pace.
There is no registration requirement, but organizers are asking participants to RSVP to help estimate the number of riders.
The tour offers another way for Madison residents to experience the Teejop Community Art Project while moving through the landscape connected to its history.
For more information about the Teejop Community Art Project and its five sites, click here.
