Local bike businesses and live music will be on show at Super Cycle Sunday, an event celebrating World Car Free Day. 

Whitmore Square will be taken over by the cycling community this Sunday to celebrate World Car Free Day, with live music, food trucks and interactive stalls on show. 

World Car Free Day is an initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme, to give cities a glimpse into what they could look like without banked-up traffic congestion or parked cars lining the streets. 

Super Cycle Sunday is an inaugural event put on by the Adelaide City Council to celebrate World Car Free Day and encourage active transport. 

DJ Evie Lucas, who you might recognise by her handmade signature tinsel jackets, will kick off the day spinning a mix of funky, jazzy beats and dancefloor anthems from 10am.

From 12pm, singer-songwriter Lucas Day will perform, followed by jazz vocalist Eliza Dickson. 

RnB meets Folk-pop artist LENI will close the day, joined by saxophonist Jack Degenhart. 

Sturt Street (Southern Carriageway) will be closed to traffic from 9:30am ‘til 3pm on Sunday, with a temporary bike lane created along Sturt Street between West Terrace and Whitmore Square to provide access to the event. 

The Adelaide City Council has a turbulent history when it comes to cycling and incorporating bike lanes into streets. 

In 2010, the council voted to spend $100,000 to remove a concrete bicycle lane between Whitmore Square and West Terrace after a community campaign argued it was bad for pedestrians and business and was unused by the cycling community. 

Last night, the Infrastructure and Public Works Committee voted to investigate improvements to the West Terrace and Sturt Street area to make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists. This was the result of a community petition launched by the Sturt Street Primary School community.

The works could include widening footpaths, but more information and designs of what this could look like will come back to the council when they undergo their 2025/26 budget process.

Councillor David Elliott, who is also the chair of cyclist advocacy group Bike Adelaide, says while they haven’t committed to any changes to West Terrace yet, this issue indicates a good tone shift around cycling. 

“I think because there’s so many people constantly asking for active transport improvements that’s making its way onto the agenda quite regularly, I think it’s setting a pretty good tone for the way that we’re managing our transport issues now,” he says.

“It’s setting a pretty good environment for the councillors and the council to have mature discussions about it, rather than just digging into those really basic and kind of false dichotomy of bikes, versus car parking kind of argument. It’s getting much more nuanced now, and people are coming into it with a much more mature understanding.”

David Elliott is the council’s active transport champion — an enduring trope of contemporary Adelaide Town Hall. This picture: Angela Skujins

Elliott says events like Super Cycle Sunday help distinguish the current council’s position on active transport and ride into the future. He spearheaded the event to celebrate World Car Free Day, bringing it to the council in January to encourage active transport options.

“It might seem hard to imagine for a city like Adelaide to have car-free spaces but we do it all the time,” he told the council in January.

“We have permanent car-free spaces at Rundle Mall, Leigh Street, Peel St, and Ebenezer Place, which dedicate huge amounts of space to people and people flock to them because it’s lively, safe and social.” 

Last year, the council acknowledged World Car Free Day for the first time by offering free bike tune-ups, which Elliott says was a good start, but that they could go bigger.  

“This is one of those things that can bring to the front of people’s minds those alternatives and actively promote them and demonstrate that this is a city that makes place for people and events,” he says. 

“We are known as a festival state, we put on some of the biggest and best parties in the country, probably even the southern hemisphere, we need to make sure those festivals, parties events have viable spaces to operate and bring those businesses and residents along for the ride.” 

In addition to live music, there will also be roving performances, face painting and a ‘bling your bike’ workshop for kids. 

Participating businesses will have stalls and interactive riding activities, including Dutch Cargo Bike, Neutral Spares Bicycle Workshop, The Bike Shed, CycleBar Adelaide, Hey Reflect’o and more. 

There’ll be a licensed area with drinks from Mismatch Brewing, as well as food truck offerings from Soza’s, Bubble Me Bubble Tea SA and Barossa Ice Cream. 

Cafe Troppo will be open and serving coffee and sweet treats for the event. 

A 2023 Kidical Mass demonstration. This picture: via Facebook

Alongside the event, the global advocacy group Kidical Mass will have a demonstration ride at 10am starting and ending from Whitmore Square. 

Kidical Mass is an advocacy group for children and families to ride safely on city streets. Their campaign asks for 30 km/h speed limits, prioritised active transport around schools, and subsidies to make it cheaper to choose electric bikes. 

Elliott is a volunteer marshall for the Kidical Mass bicycle parade this Sunday, which he says changes public perception and reminds people how much fun you can have on bikes.

“The whole point is that people are already happy about being a person that uses a bike and getting around by bike,” he tells CityMag.

“These are all the people that want to ride their bikes, this is what we’re building for, and this is what we need infrastructure for.

“People always have that image of, you know, the MAMIL, the middle-aged man in Lycra, and that’s the only person that’s asking for the infrastructure and the whole point of Kidical Mass is to point to this group and go, ‘no, these are the people that benefit most from safe cycling infrastructure and safer streets.’

“This is why we want it, this is who is going to be using it and it’s pretty hard to be angry at a kid on a bike that’s going to school.”

To participate in the Kidical Mass ride, register via Humantix.