Gear up for the 11th annual Gears & Guitars Festival

Photo courtesy of Gears & Guitars

The “biggest party on two wheels” — the Gears & Guitars Festival — is returning to its traditional spring calendar for the first time since 2019.

The two-day event will feature professional + amateur cycling and community bike rides, as well as free outdoor concerts.

Friday, May 24

Cycling:

• Streets of Fire | 7-9 p.m. | This crowd favorite features high-speed bicycle sprints down 4 ^th Street.

Concerts:

• High School Reunion | Merschel Park Plaza, 180 W. 4th St. | 5:30 p.m. | Throwback band performing hits from the 80s, 90s and 2000s
• Sarah Shook + the Disarmers | Marshall Street, adjacent to Winston Square Park | 7:30 p.m. | Country
• Lucero | Marshall Street, adjacent to Winston Square Park | 9 p.m. | Alternative country/rock

Photo by Weldon Weaver via Gears & Guitars

Saturday, May 25

The entire day will happen in and around Bailey Park (445 Patterson Ave.) in Innovation Quarter.

Cycling:

• 68-mile Fondo | departs at 8 a.m. | Includes two rest stops
• 42-mile Fondo | departs at 8:30 a.m. | Includes one rest stop
• 7-or 15-mile greenway ride | departs at 10 a.m. | Courses from Long Branch Trail go to Salem Creek Greenway
• Amateur Crit racing | 9:10 a.m.-5 p.m.
• USA Crit Professional Cycling series finals | 5:30-8:15 p.m.

Concerts:

• Whiskey Bent | 12 p.m. | vintage country and Southern rock
• Beggars Banquet | 1 p.m. | Rolling Stones tribute band
• Camel City Yacht Club | 3 p.m. | 70s and 80s rock
• Doug Davis and Radio Silence | 8 p.m. | alternative rock
• The Fray | 9 p.m. | Pop-rock band that made it to the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100

You need to register to ride but all concerts are open to the public — chairs and blankets are encouraged. You can’t bring in coolers or outside alcoholic beverages, but there will be a beer garden and food trucks.

Find parking near Innovation Quarter in decks at 4th and Church streets, 4th and Poplar streets, or the Forsyth Government Center on Chestnut Street.