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California Roots Festival, including Bike Valet / Active Transportation Valet Station

Per Cali Roots FAQs on what to bring to Cali Roots 2024, May 24-26:
Bicycles and skateboards can be brought to the free bike valet station, which will be located at Gate 8. Look for signage directing to Gate 8.  (Bikes and skateboards are not allowed inside the festival grounds.)

As Cali Roots reminds, remember to bring lights for yourself and your bike. Note the legal requirements for bicycle lights and reflectors on our bilingual summary of California bike laws below.

Bike law summary – bilingual – with QR code

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Per valet organizer Michael Baroni (founder of NitroCycle 831 and Green Pedal Couriers), Cali Roots does plan to provide a larger space for the valet station in 2023 [and 2024]. In 2022, more people biked to Cali Roots than the valet station space could accommodate.

While most of info below remains relevant for 2023 and 2024, note that this post was first published in 2012, was updated in its entirety in 2018, and partly updated in 2022.  For any additional updates, please check with the sources referred to.

2022 update

Bike valet station is at Gate 8. We encourage arriving early to have your bicycle secured in the valet station. The valets reported that Friday, May 27, 2022 by 2 p.m., the station was full. We saw that for ourselves when we biked over to say howdy at about 7 p.m.: there were over 200 bikes and skateboards in the small space provided for the valets, and people who’d arrived after the station was full resorted to locking their bikes along the fence.

https://www.californiarootsfestival.com/bike-and-skate-valet/

Related info on this site: bicycle security tips and bike parking.

https://twitter.com/BikeMonterey/status/1530391478249193475?s=20&t=mcXMVGdZggqS8hUxaeoCkw

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While most of the info below remains relevant for 2023, it has not been updated.

Cali Roots visitors wanna come back for Reggae FestThe 10th annual  California Roots Festival is May 24-26, 2019 at the Monterey County Fair and Event Center. A free bike and skate valet / active transportation valet service will again be provided.
Can’t be there?  Check for livestream links on: http://californiarootsfestival.com

Below, tips about

  1. The valet station
  2. Option: bike-and-ride
  3. Directions for biking to the Cali Roots venue (Monterey County Fair & Event Center)
  4. Cali Roots history
Bike or skate to Cali Roots and you’ll avoid parking lot fees, see the neighborhoods up close and personal, get some exercise in the fresh coastal air, help keep the air and water cleaner, and have more fun!

1. Cali Roots bike and skate / active transportation valet station

  • Cali Roots has again partnered with local business Green Pedal Couriers to provide free valet service: http://californiarootsfestival.com/bike-skate-valet
  • The Green Pedal valet station attendants will welcome skateboards, skates,  strollers, joggers, etc.—all sorts of active transportation equipment— as well as cargo bikes, bike trailers, tandems, recumbents, e-bikes, and other types of bicycles.
  • (Check the Cali Roots website, or check with valet provider, for any possible changes.) The 2018 valet station was scheduled for Gate 8. (Just fyi, some events at this venue have bike valet at Gate 3 or Gate 5. For any possible changes to assigned gate, check with Cali Roots or valet provider Green Pedal.) 
Check out the Cali Roots Greening page too, which highlights additional earth-friendly measures of the festival: http://californiarootsfestival.com/greening

2. Option: bike-and-ride

Bicycling doesn’t have to be all or nothing. If your schedule or stamina don’t allow biking all the way to Cali Roots, consider biking part-way. Consider a bike-and-ride option.

Will you be making use of bike-and-ride option Monterey-Salinas Transit? See “What to do when bike racks on buses are full, or if there’s no rack on an MST trolley.”

3. Directions for biking to the Cali Roots venue

The Cali Roots venue (Monterey County Fair & Event Center) is a short bike ride from the popular coastal bike/multi-use trail that is part of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail network. Below are two of the routes many people take. For additional directions help, refer to Bicycle maps / Mapas de bicicletas – en español and English for Monterey County.

Bike-there direx from the coastal trail at Casa Verde

Note: This route is nearly entirely flat, with only one very short and cinchy hill just before you reach Fremont Avenue.

  1. Leave the bike/multi-use trail at the Casa Verde intersection, where Casa Verde intersects the trail and the street that parallels the trail there, Del Monte Avenue. (Not familiar with that intersection?  A landmark on the southwest corner of Casa Verde and Del Monte is Bay View Academy.)
  2. Cross Del Monte Avenue and bike south on Casa Verde. There are no bike lanes on Casa Verde nearly all the way to the fairgrounds, so use extra caution as you share the traffic lane with cars.
  3. Continue up Casa Verde all the way to the T-intersection at Fairground Road. (When you’re nearly there, Casa Verde crosses Fremont Avenue. At the Casa Verde and Fremont intersection, on your right is a gas station and, across Fremont, a Beverly’s fabrics/crafts store.)
  4. After crossing Fremont, you’ll see a “green lane” (added in 2016, to welcome people who bike to the Monterey County Fair & Event Center). That’s the fairgrounds marquee straight ahead of you. To reach Gate 3, turn right at the stop sign at that T-intersection. IMG_0177
  5. Continue west on Fairground Road to the traffic signal at the corner of Fairground Road and Garden Road.
  6. At the traffic signal, turn left onto Garden Road, then a left into the bike valet parking station area just outside Gate 3. Look for the bike valet signs.

Bike-there direx from coastal trail at Camino Aguajito

Note: This route is mostly flat, with some slight uphill on Mark Thomas that most people will find comfortable.

  1. Leave the bike/multi-use trail at Camino Aguajito, which has a traffic signal. You’ll be crossing the street that parallels the trail there, Del Monte Avenue. (Not familiar with that intersection? There’s a gas station on the southeast corner of Camino Aguajito and Del Monte.) 
  2. Continue south on Camino Aguajito to Third Street. Turn left on Third Street (landmark—but not the direction you’re going: on the right, that street is named Pearl Street and bridges over Lake El Estero).
  3. Continue east on Third Street to the T-intersection at Sloat, which runs alongside the Naval Postgraduate School.
  4. Turn right onto Sloat. Continue south on Sloat until you reach the traffic light at Mark Thomas Drive.
  5. Turn left onto Mark Thomas Drive.
  6. Continue east on Mark Thomas to the traffic signal at Garden Road. (Just fyi, at Garden Road, Mark Thomas becomes Fairground Road.)
  7. Turn right at the traffic signal onto Garden Road, then a left into the bike valet parking station area just outside Gate 3. Look for the bike valet signs.

4. Some Cali Roots history

Monterey County Weekly, 5/23/19: http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/cover/the-california-roots-festival-at/collection_3888c772-7cde-11e9-912b-e31b700f841f.html a
A litterati headsup: don’t be that person! 
Join Cali Roots efforts to green the festival: http://californiarootsfestival.com/greening

http://twitter.com/BikeMonterey/status/207377597020123136

http://twitter.com/BikeMonterey/status/207378674926882816

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Questions?

For general bicycling questions, see Bicycling Monterey’s 20-section Tips for Bicycling Monterey County guide or feel free to phone Bicycling Monterey.
For bike valet questions, contact Cali Roots or the valet provider.

The info above was first published in 2012, was updated in its entirety in 2018, and was partly updated in 2023 and 2024.  For any additional updates, please check with the sources referred to.

This post was published on 4 May 2024.

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