Hyphenated New York - NYU Fall 2009

Polar Bear Bicyclists

Prior to the bike ride, members of Time's Up! posed for photographs in the southern courtyard at Union Square Park.

by: Max Behrman

Even for New York, it was a most unusual sight: around 15 people on bicycles, dressed as polar bears, wearing white from head to toe. Surgical masks with bear noses and mouths drawn on them were strapped to their faces. And as the caravan snaked through the West and East Villages, Alphabet City and the Lower East Side, bicycling bears shouted at the gawkers and walkers on the streets: “Where’s the ice?” “You seen any icebergs around here?” All the while, music blasted from a loudspeaker to get the attention of passersby. (more…)