THE weird, the wonderful and the downright wacky will be on display at an unusual festival to mark the visit of the Tour de France to York.

A York community is inviting anything that might, with a very wide stretch of the imagination, be called a bicycle to the Bishophill Velocipede Festival and York International Pedal Powered Invention Convention. It doesn’t even have to have two wheels. Anything pedal powered will be welcome.

Participants will have the chance to get their own “standard” bike ready for the Tour, decide exactly how loud the music at the six-hour event will be, drink seven real ales delivered by bicycle from local breweries at the Pedal Bar and see a mobile tricycle letterpress printer.

Pete Kilbane for the organisers, said: “Everyone is welcome from the smallest scooters to giant six seaters, from town bikes to recumbents, from kids’ trikes to trailer bikes and even pedal powered washing machines. If you’ve got a crazy machine, we want to see it.

“It is also a chance for everyone to jazz up their day-to-day bike and turn it into their pride and joy in time for the tour.

“It’s an opportunity for locals to have a light-hearted family fun bike party the day before the serious guys arrive in town.”

The festival and convention will start at 2pm on Saturday July 5 as the Tour de France itself makes its way over Wensleydale and Swaledale and continue until 8pm, well after the professional riders reach Harrogate.

The venue at the Golden Ball, on Bishophill Senior, and the nearby community garden, is within yards of the route the riders will travel the following day, July 6.

Ten local acts will give performances with their music amplified through a pedal powered sound system, which participants will then have a chance to operate.

The faster they pedal, the louder the music will be.

The organisers, York Social and The Golden Ball Co-op, working with Get Cycling, VeloVision magazine, Voice International and others, are hoping that as well as pedal power on the road, the festival will feature pedal powered household items such as washing machines and smoothie makers.