PALMDALE – Local artists have until Monday, April 30 to take their creative energies and turn old bicycle rims into pieces of art for the City of Palmdale’s “Spokes of Art” contest, held in conjunction with the Amgen Tour of California (ATOC) coming to Palmdale on Friday, May 18.
Entry forms are available at www.cityofpalmdale.org/atoc.
There are four entry categories:
- Best theme relating to an organization or business;
- Breakaway from Cancer®;
- Most artistic; and
- Best depiction of Palmdale.
Entries will be displayed at the Antelope Valley Mall from May 5 to May 13. Visitors to the mall will be able to vote for their favorite entry at www.facebook.com/avmall.
Following the contest, winning “Spokes of Art” entries will be shown at Palmdale Regional Medical Center from May 14 to May 16.
All entries will be on display in the festival area at the Amgen Tour of California Stage 6 starting event on Friday, May 18 at Marie Kerr Park.
“We’re encouraging local artists, schools, churches, businesses, civic groups and individuals to take old bicycle rims and decorate them for a display as we celebrate the Amgen Tour of California coming to Palmdale,” said Herman.
The ATOC in Palmdale on May 18 will begin at 8:30 a.m. at Marie Kerr Park. With the firing of the official start gun, riders will leave Marie Kerr Park and head east on Rancho Vista Blvd., a flat straightaway past the heart of Palmdale’s busy retail center and Antelope Valley Mall, under the 14 Freeway, and past iconic Joshua trees in springtime bloom. This section of the race will provide outstanding viewing opportunities for bicycling enthusiasts and residents to catch the peloton as it travels through the heart of Palmdale.
The race begins in earnest when the riders take a hard right onto historic Sierra Highway. Formerly the El Camino Sierra Trail used by prospectors and adventurers in the 19th century, Sierra Highway is part of Historic Route 6. Riders will race along this nostalgic thoroughfare, passing Palmdale’s state-of-the-art Transportation Center, beautiful desert landscape, and picturesque Lake Palmdale at 2,980 feet above sea level before turning onto Pearblossom Hwy. As the riders veer left onto Angeles Forest Hwy. from Pearblossom Hwy., they will begin their arduous ascent into the San Gabriel Mountains, the first of two grueling uphill climbs of the day.
For further information on the 2012 Amgen Tour of California, and to view the 2012 Amgen Tour of California Host Cities video, visit www.amgentourofcalifornia.com.
(Information via press release from the City of Palmdale.)
