Roll with it

The Roller Bike Parade is the summer party that never stops

Say what you want about Brussels, you’d be hard-pressed to find a city that would deal with an event like the Roller Bike Parade. Every Friday night for four solid months, thousands strap on a pair of skates – quad or inline – and wheel through the streets from the Justice Palace, down Louizalaan, through Elsene and on to Sint-Gillis. They are preceded by vans blasting dance music and followed by hundreds of bicycles. The police block traffic and keep the skaters safe – and sometimes strap on a pair of skates and do a little boogying at the head of the parade.

Although it’s not something that exactly draws spectators, heads do turn and innocent bystanders watch while the skaters scream and shout, dance and grab at each other, like little kids in a skating rink. Couples hold hands, parents hover over their kids, a truck picks up those who overestimated their skating stamina. Sometimes there’s an impromptu break dance.

It’s the kind of imposition and traffic stopper that people just don’t really seem to mind and that bemused authorities can’t find reason to restrict. But you wouldn’t get that attitude in just any capital.

And it doesn’t stop in Brussels. The Roller Bike Parade – sponsored by Evian in support of their famous skating babies commercial – will show up next month on Mondays in Hasselt and on Sundays in Koksijde throughout the summer.

www.belgiumrollers.com

Lisa Bradshaw

(June 9, 2010)