The Pick Up Artist Makes a Special Appearance at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

What’s not to like when bikes, beers, and music are combined altogether at Golden Gate Park?

This weekend was the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival and we at Soma came over to show off the Pick Up Artist prototype... and enjoy some beers and music. We rode to the park from the BART station and joined a “peloton” of regular folks heading the same way we were. It was nice to see so many cyclists riding on a surprisingly sunny Sunday afternoon.The organizers of the festival thought ahead and set up a long line of bike racks about two city blocks long on JFK Drive that leads into the entrance of the festival. Then again, the bike racks were so full some folks locked their bikes hanging from the trees by the sidewalk.

The Pick Up Artist never fails to attract attention. As we rolled in, people passing by commented on how cool/unique/handy the bike is. In simple terms, it seems like the weird looking bike always gets attention, like this bike we saw locked up by the racks. A freaking dragon bike, how cool is that.

The venue we wanted to see was the Dark Side Orchestra (DSO), a tribute band to the Grateful Dead from Chicago. DSO recreate Grateful Dead shows by following the setlist of a particular concert. This weekend, the DSO played a show from a concert the Grateful Dead performed at Lindley Meadows in 1975. That’s about 100 yards where DSO played. It was like a quick trip to the past where the same type of music and the same type of intoxicants (organic pastries anyone?) were scattered throughout the park. Young people dressed as hippies dancing along to "Not Fade Away" next to old hippies dressed as regular people with their grand kids was quite a sight.