Bicycle brunches, free concerts, independent art exhibitions, hammocks, swimming and night movies. This summer Kalasatama has proved to be the perfect location to spend warm days and nights in the city.
Last wednesday, the We Love Helsinki community celebrated a Bicycle Day in Kalasatama in an almost tropical summer night. The event, created together with a number of voluntary urban activists, started at Bermuda Helsinki’s container with live music, bicycle repair and brunch for a voluntary fee, freshly roasted coffee by Kaffa, drinks from the bicycle bar, and radler (traditional cyclists’ drink) from a bicycle tank by Pelago. At 10pm, over 300 cyclists started a night ride around the centre of Helsinki. The almost endless line of riders ringing their bells and curving through the streets was a spectacular sight.
The night continued at Ihana Cafe with a cycle-in film screening. Even in the midnight darkness, the bicycle repair continued, while others sat wathching the film Kotipojat, a documentary about the roots of Finnish hip hop.
The Bicycle Day was part of We Love Helsinki’s urban festival that goes on during this week. Besides bicycling, there’s been an excursion to Turku, a sing-together Karaoke and an urban art tour – for the weekend at least a water fight and old school dances at the White Hall have been promised. Check here for updates!
Photography by Johannes Romppanen.
