You can dance if you want to. You can leave your car behind.
Transportation Alternatives, a group that promotes alternatives to driving, is throwing a Bicyclists’ Ball and Pedestrian Prom at Atlantic Avenue events hall Roulette on Aug. 14. And despite the soiree’s name, drivers can cut a rug alongside their fellow commuters, an organizer said.
“All are welcome,” said Stacey Auguste. “We’re always looking for new opportunities to convert people — we’re not anti-car, we’re pro-walking.”
But cyclists will get to feel like drivers for the night — Transportation Alternatives staff will valet-park pedalers’ rides, and Citi Bike employees will do the same for the ubiquitous blue bicycles arriving at the Third Avenue and Schermerhorn Street docking station, Auguste said, adding that cyclists using the valet service must also bring a lock.
Party-loving pedalers might want to keep their helmets on, because the ball is serving unlimited wine and beer from Brooklyn Brewery, Auguste said.
And with all that green cyclists save biking to work, they can bid on some swanky swag in a silent auction, with prizes including a bicycle from Priority Bikes, duds from Give Love Cycle, and gear from a bevy of other Brooklyn brands.
Music for the shindig will come via a live performance by jazzy, jivey brass band Ikebe Shakedown and a DJ. Transportation Alternatives itself has some catchy telephone hold music — Motown mega-hit “Dancing in the Streets” — but Auguste said the ball’s tunes will not necessarily be transit-themed. So in the spirit of people-moving and shaking, The Brooklyn Paper has compiled an alternative transportation play list.
The blacktop ballet is not specifically a black-tie event — T-shirts and shorts will get you in the door — but some folks are getting gussied up anyway, Auguste said.
“We have a few people here who already said they are wearing a tuxedo,” she said.
Bicyclists’ Ball and Pedestrian Prom at Roulette [509 Atlantic Ave. at Third Avenue in Boerum Hill, (212) 629–8080, www.transalt.org/ball] Aug. 14 at 7 pm. $25, members $15.
