Zany Austin Bike Zoo bikes here this weekend

PRESIDIO, OJINAGA, South Brewster, Presidio counties – The Austin Bike Zoo and their zany bicycles will be on hand at the Chihuahua Desert Dirt Fest this weekend, visit schools in Terlingua and Big Bend National Park next week, and parade from Presidio to Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico on Friday, February 24.

They’ll also visit Presidio schools that Friday and Ojinaga schools on Saturday, February 25.

The Terlingua school visit is Tuesday, February 21, and the Big Bend National Park school on Wednesday, February 22.

The Friday, February 24 visit to Presidio schools will be followed by the Zoo’s second annual international parade, starting at 5pm at Presidio High School.

“We will ride, along with all the school kids of Presidio, with their monarch butterfly costumes they will have made in art class, to the international bridge, cross the bridge, and proceed to the Ojinaga plaza,” Zoo officials said.

Mexican Consul Hector Raul Acosta Flores of Presidio last year jumped on a bike and took part in the parade. He’s expected to show his bicycling skills again this year.

Rides will be given to Ojinaga children at the Zocalo, and the Mexican Consulate will house the Austin bikers that night.

On Saturday, February 25, Austin Bike Zoo bikers will visit the schools of Ojinaga, including an evening event. The Mexican Consulate will again house the bikers, and the Austinites return to Presidio on Sunday, February 26.

This is part of the Consulate’s Mardis Gras events and parade, featuring the Austin Bike Zoo’s giant rattlesnake and monarch butterfly bikes. They appeared at Alpine ArtWalk in November.

The Mexican Consulate uses the Zoo’s butterflies to bring attention to the great monarch butterflies, and the challenges that they face. Present will be representatives from Michoacan, the Mexican state where the monarchs breed and return to each year. Also present will be representatives from Mexico City.

This will be the second annual international parade for the Austin Bike Zoo.

“We started doing these cross-border parades into Mexico strictly for fun, but we enjoy bringing some positive attention to this particularly  friendly and slow-paced area of the border that is unjustly viewed as hostile and dangerous,” Zoo officials said. “We acknowledge that there certainly are many dangerous areas along the US-Mexican border, but the border in the Big Bend region of Texas enjoys a very low crime rate and a peaceful amicable atmosphere that contradicts most

Americans commonly held beliefs about the border.”

View the website: www.austinbikezoo.org and watch a video of last year’s parade at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6WeHchCcPo.