Dig that red dress, Hawaiian shirt or tuxedo—whatever your preference—out of your closet and join cyclists from San Francisco at a festival in Guerneville, Saturday, May 30, dedicated to raising awareness about HIV/AIDS.
Called the Red Dress Fest, the event, part street fair and part memorial for people who have died of the disease, is the culmination of a three-day cycling event called Cycle to Zero, a fundraiser for the AIDS Foundation of San Francisco.
Between May 29 and May 31 hundreds of participants will bicycle from San Francisco to Guerneville, and then back again, having raised over $1.6 million in sponsorships as of May 22. The money supports the no-cost services of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which was founded in 1982 at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
For the Saturday evening event, Cycle to Zero will block off First Street in Guerneville from 5 to 9 p.m. It will feature music, entertainment, food vendors and a candlelight vigil starting at 8:30 p.m.
According to Face to Face Sonoma County Development Director Gary Saperstein, the local organization will be providing volunteers for the event.
“We are proud to work with San Francisco AIDS foundation. The work they do (in San Francisco) is the same as the work we do (in Sonoma County).”
That work includes HIV/AIDS prevention and testing, helping people with HIV/AIDS secure housing, medical care and other services, and “harm reduction,” such as needle exchange. According to Saperstein there are approximately 1,500 people living with HIV/AIDS in Sonoma County.
Sunday morning the cyclists will break camp and head for Martin Luther King Park in Sausalito, stopping at West Marin Elementary School in Point Reyes for a lunch break.
