Wasn't sure which category...this seemed as good as any!
This summer the three towns in the valley I live in have been flooded...three times. Tourism is a major industry here and most money is made during the summer, many local shops were closed for full refits/refurbishments after the floods during what should have been the busiest season, some have just gone straight out of business.
However, what we do have is a strong sense of community; a month or so ago an event was organized, part celebration, part marketing exercise. There were light and fire shows in each of the three towns coinciding with the switching on of each set of Christmas lights and the late-night Christmas shopping nights.
To symbolically link the three towns there was an illuminated flotilla along the canal and (yep...the point is coming...) and illuminated bike ride along the valley, there were 200 hundred of us in a rolling road block with police escort, good fun and great to get involved in a real community effort (my local town had 8000 spectators that night!!!)
My bike ready to go:
One of the videos of the ride, love the bit were the cameraman overtakes us; shows just how big a group this was!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pcBYeq4SNPc
Great photo album of the whole night:
https://plus.google.com/photos/100510820387261923724/albums/5817452460115852417?banner=pwa
This summer the three towns in the valley I live in have been flooded...three times. Tourism is a major industry here and most money is made during the summer, many local shops were closed for full refits/refurbishments after the floods during what should have been the busiest season, some have just gone straight out of business.
However, what we do have is a strong sense of community; a month or so ago an event was organized, part celebration, part marketing exercise. There were light and fire shows in each of the three towns coinciding with the switching on of each set of Christmas lights and the late-night Christmas shopping nights.
To symbolically link the three towns there was an illuminated flotilla along the canal and (yep...the point is coming...) and illuminated bike ride along the valley, there were 200 hundred of us in a rolling road block with police escort, good fun and great to get involved in a real community effort (my local town had 8000 spectators that night!!!)
My bike ready to go:
One of the videos of the ride, love the bit were the cameraman overtakes us; shows just how big a group this was!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pcBYeq4SNPc
Great photo album of the whole night:
https://plus.google.com/photos/100510820387261923724/albums/5817452460115852417?banner=pwa