Dally in the Alley and Call for Art Submissions

Hey friends, we wanted to alert you to some awesome events and opportunities coming up that we hope you’ll join us for!

The first is next Saturday, September 11th when Fender Bender will be moving our open shop into the great outdoors as we set up a mobile repair station at the 33rd annual Dally in the Alley street fair right here in the Cass Corridor. Fender Bender’s highly trained ladiez will be on staff from noon until 7pm to fix your bike, patch your tire, teach you your cone wrench from your crank puller and so much more! All services offered will be free (just like always) but donations are gladly accepted and greatly appreciated (just like always). We’re not exactly sure where on the street we’ll be setting up shop yet, but look for signs the day of and you’ll find us. We are hoping to use this as an opportunity to bring in more awesome supporters and allies, as well as educate more people about bikes, so bring your friends and spread the word! We should also mention that this special Dally-only open shop is 100% gender inclusive, so anyone of any gender can get their bike fixed or gain access to our trove of knowledge. Sweet, right?

In addition, we are in the process of putting together an art auction at the Motor City Brewery to benefit Fender Bender, and we are looking for submissions! Art can be of any media (photography, collage, sculpture, watercolor, blueberry jam, whatever!) and can be any size and any theme. There is no real jurying process, but what we can take will depend on the amount of submissions already received, and we will obviously not be allowing any artwork that is blatantly (or even covertly) bigoted, intolerant, or fucked up. This is a broad statement, especially since art is like, subjective or whatever, but if more than one of us thinks your shit is racist or transphobic or anything even remotely offensive to any group of people or animals, we’re not going to include you in the show. But, that’s not going to happen because you’re all so great and we want your art!!

All proceeds from the show will go to directly benefit our current programming and future growth. The show will most likely be going down in November, but we are still hammering out the details. In the meantime, all submissions can be sent to us at fenderbenderdetroit[at]gmail[dot]com and should include the following:

1. A photo of the piece or link to an external site where we can view it
2. A couple lines about why you’d like to be involved in the show (you don’t need to justify your whole life to us, we just want to know how you got here and why you’d like to contribute. We love new friends!)
3. A little bit about the piece like, it’s dimensions, media details, it’s history or inspiration, and what you’d like to sell it for
4. A very brief artists statement (less than 300 words) that can be included with your piece so people know what you’re about
5. Permission to use a photo of your piece online or in promotional materials surrounding the show (or a polite note opting out of this part)

Also, you’re totally welcome to submit more than one piece, but if you do so, please indicate which you’d prefer to include more just in case we can only accept one due to space.

Thank you all so much for your support. Keep checking back to see updated info about the art show, and we’ll hope to see you all at the Dally next weekend. Yeah!

xoxo
Liz + Fender Bender

Less typing, more biking.

Ok so Fender Bender has still been in full swing even though we haven’t been updating the blog. It’s been a busy summer and we’ve all been very active with riding our bikes, working on projects, educating ourselves, going on adventures…. the list could go on!

But I promise we didn’t just up and disappear after the US Social Forum. I want to add that the forum and our workshops went really well. We met a lot of excellent people who shared their knowledge, experiences, resources, thoughts, and conversations with us. Hello Community! We have lots of new plans brewing for the future of the Fender Bender collective. More on that soon enough.

Our weekly Saturday open shops are still very active so if your bike needs a tune-up or you’d like to just mess around with it and figure things out or if you have any questions, don’t forget about the open shops.

Autumn is creeping in, classes have started for some. Hopefully you get to ride your bike to class. The cooling temperatures in the a.m. are perfect for riding. Raise your heart rate up a bit before you have to go and sit at a desk for hours and hours. Class or no class, the cool nights and mornings are perfect for a bike ride.

Autumn and bike rides! Liz & I will be doing our first century (100 miles) ride coming up on October 9. She is super rad and is coming all the way down to Tennessee so we can ride this together, along with others we are fond of. 100 miles sounds intimidating but it’s also an excellent challenge to work up to. Needless to say, I am stoked! and a little bit nervous. Having friends come all the way down here so we can ride this together takes away the nervousness and adds a lot more fun into the ride though.

If you are looking for a ride in your area, I came across this helpful bikerides.com searching site. There are an assortment of rides for everyone to participate in.

Ok, well that is a very brief update but more to come soon.
Keep riding & be safe out there,
Vanessa & FB