The zine trike will be similar to this Icicle Tricycle book trike.
North America’s cycling capital will soon have another free-wheelin’ sweet addition to its streets this summer: the world’s first communal “zine trike.”
Portland, Oregon-based zinester Sarah Mirk is creating a hand-build zine tricycle that “local creators can use to pedal (and peddle) their wares,” as first reported in Portland Monthly.
“For the last year and a half, I have not been able to get out and sell comics and meet people and do all that great stuff,” Mirk told PM. That’s when she got the very Portland idea of creating a communal zine tricycle that local creators will soon be able to borrow for free.
The zine bike is coming! This is a cargo trike whose front box can unfold into a pop-up library, info booth, or shop. Available for free rental by PDX zine-makers starting later this summer! pic.twitter.com/pu3xMCumTG
— S. Mirk (@mirkwork) June 22, 2021
Mirk says her plan is to set up a website where creators can reserve the zine cargo tricycle. “So if you make zines or comics, you can reserve it to do a little pop-up shop.”
The city has embraced the idea, with $3000 of funding for the project coming from a regional arts council grant. A local cargo tricycle maker, Icicle Tricycle, is doing the build.
If all goes according to plan, the glorious trike will be wheeling along Portland’s streets soon, spreading the Good Zine Word.
Do you have a vehicular zine hub in your region? Let us know! Email [email protected].