As part of Brunswick Main Street’s continuing efforts to be known as a place where cyclists are welcome, the group will hold the second Brunswick Bicycle Festival on Saturday.

The Brunswick Bicycle Festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, and feature music, food and children’s activities, at Railroad Square near the MARC train station, on mile marker 55 of the C&O Canal. This year, there are some changes coming, in response to feedback during last year’s first incarnation of the event, according to Patrick Kay, the executive director of Brunswick Main Street.

“We’re doing a five-mile bike ride around town,” Kay said. “Everyone came last year and said ‘we had a great time we liked the event, but where’s the ride?’ We’re also adding a hill climb up ... what we call ‘Dead Man’s Curve.’”

The “Dead Man’s Curve” event will start with cyclists at the base of a hill on Park Avenue, who will then race up the hill to the intersection of Park and 9th Avenue. Riders will be disqualified if their feet touch the ground, and the fastest cyclists will win prizes, likely in the form of downtown Brunswick gift certificates, Kay said. Both the uphill race and the five-mile leisurely ride are free, and cyclists will also be able to ride along the C&O Canal Towpath.

The festival is paid for by a grant from the Tourism Council of Frederick County. Kay said the grant was for about $9,000, but that the sum was used to pay for several events in Brunswick, including some of their monthly “Saturdays in Railroad Town” promotions. Brunswick is located at Mile 55 of the 184.5-mile C&O Canal Towpath, which is a popular route for bike enthusiasts. The national park was completed in 1850 and operated as a canal until 1924. Brunswick's visitor center, at 40 W. Potomac St., is one of six centers located along the towpath.

Kim Doyle is a Brunswick resident and volunteer who has been helping to organize the bicycle festival, and said the goal was to give the festival a personal feel, even as it grows.

“What we’re trying to do is really personalize as much as possible the festival,” he said. “We want to say ‘come back to Brunswick’ and that this is a bike-friendly destination … I really think we could grow this into something really significant for Brunswick. Because of our location on the towpath, we get people coming to and into town all the time.”

Last year’s festival had about 450 attendants, Doyle said, with about 150 signing up on an email list for future bike event notifications. He said he wanted to increase the attendance this year, and stressed that there were activities for non-bikers as well, such as music and food vendors.

“I’m hoping to get to 500, including bicyclists and walkers,” Doyle said. “Everything’s dependent upon the weather of course, since all of our events are outside. With all of these events, you really see between the third and fifth year, that you see the biggest change, when you get enough visibility and exposure that it will really explode.”

John Gonano, marketing spokesman for River and Trail Outfitters, an event sponsor with locations in Knoxville and Millville, W.Va., said the event is helpful in bringing attention to the bicycle offerings in the area.

“We enjoy participating to help promote Brunswick and bicycling,” he said. “This is a growing event. It was its first year last year; this year we expect it to be even better. I think one of the benefits is attracting folks from outside of the city to Brunswick as a destination for biking, and it’s a way of promoting the C&O Canal.”

Gonano said he’s noticed more attention to cycling in Brunswick from bicyclists in the last few years, including more use of the C&O Canal towpath.

“We recently did a promotion that was very successful that included renting bicycles on the canal,” he said. “That sparked a lot of interest. We aren’t very connected to people with their own bicycles, but I’ve noticed a lot more people biking the C&O canal and talking about biking the length of the canal.”

tlaino@gazette.net