Puppet Bike is a small

street performer Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pr ...

group in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. The bike, which is complete with a fully mobile stage, is a common sight on the streets of the Andersonville neighborhood and in downtown in the Loop.Vallis, Mary. "Puppets on Wheels are Traffic Stoppers." '' Toronto National Post'', August 7, 2007

Creation

The

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in anci ...

bike concept was created by

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

and

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

Jason Trusty around 2002 and started publicly performing around 2004. The bike itself consists of a large custom-built (by Trusty and his brother Eric)

tricycle A tricycle, sometimes abbreviated to trike, is a Human-powered transport, human-powered (or gasoline or electric motor powered or assisted, or gravity powered) Three-wheeler, three-wheeled vehicle. Some tricycles, such as cycle rickshaws (for pa ...

complete with a small box on the back which serves as a

stage Stage, stages, or staging may refer to: Arts and media Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...

for puppet shows. The box is brightly decorated with images of the puppets themselves and other designs.

Solar panel A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...

s on the roof help power the

boombox A boombox is a transistorized portable music player featuring one or two cassette tape players/recorders and AM/FM radio, generally with a carrying handle. Beginning in the mid-1990s, a CD player was often included. Sound is delivered thro ...

(which provides music for the shows), as well as fans inside the box that help cool the performer. Originally, the concept was developed for a bipolar friend of Trusty who was unemployed. The bike allowed this friend to make some extra money at his own pace, and to simply stop and go home when he was tired of it. The original bike was generally parked outside of the

Chicago Cultural Center The Chicago Cultural Center, opened in 1897, is a Chicago Landmark building operated by Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. The Cultural Center houses the city's official reception venue, where the Mayor of Chicago, M ...

and was subject to a significant amount of

vandalism Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The t ...

when not in use. It was sometimes painted over with graffiti, tipped over, and broken. According to Trusty: "We get just as much a kick out of people who don't like the bike, or think that it's scary."

Performances

Initially, Trusty himself and 8 other performers rode the bike around Chicago, stopping at strategic corners to climb inside the box. Each performance lasted 2 to 4 hours and consisted of several different puppets with an animal theme. The puppets generally danced to various kinds of music and interacted with each other in other ways. The puppets also interacted with the audiences, waving to people, giving

high five The high five is a hand gesture whereby two people simultaneously raise one hand and slap the flat of their palm against the other. The gesture is often preceded verbally by a phrase like "Give me five", "High five", or "Up top". Its meaning var ...

s, and sometimes popping out from a small door at waist height to gesture towards the tip box. Performers worked for tips only (generally placed in a locked box attached to the front of the enclosed staging area). By 2019, Trusty had sold the bike to Chicago artist Wendy Beyer, who operated it with Michael King, a longtime Puppet Bike performer of about 10 or 12 years by his own estimate. According to King in 2019, he had performed almost exclusively himself for the prior 10 years.

Current

The popularity of the bike has increased to the point that Trusty has had to turn away people interested in performing. The summer 2007 lineup included the bipolar friend, an artist from

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, bicyclists, teachers and theatre buffs. The performers keep the majority of their earnings, while Trusty keeps a small portion for bike maintenance. In the summer of 2008, Trusty had planned to take the bike through Canada to the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

References

{{Authority control American street performers American performance artists Puppet troupes Performance artist collectives Puppetry in the United States