The North Star Bicycle Festival, is a ten-day series of cycling events that take place at sites around central Minnesota. The festival has gone by multiple names since its creation in 1999 as Tour de Wings.[1] It was known as the Great River Energy Bicycle Festival for 2000–2008, the Minnesota Bicycle Festival in 2009, and the Nature Valley Bicycle Festival for 2010–2013.[citation needed]. It is currently known as the North Star Bicycle Festival.
The festival takes place in mid-June. In 2016, the Festival took place on June 10–19, beginning with the Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic, June 10–11. The event consisted of velodrome racing at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minnesota.
The marquee event of the Festival is the North Star Grand Prix, a professional bicycle stage race. In 2016, races took place in the downtowns of Saint Paul, Cannon Falls, Minneapolis, North Mankato and Stillwater.
The North Star Grand Prix is one of only four stage races on the USA Cycling National Racing Calendar
The presenting sponsor is North Memorial Health Care
The North Star Bicycle Festival was cancelled in 2018, which would have been its 20th year. An attempt to bring it back in 2019 failed since it had no cash sponsors and a GoFundMe campaign raised only 6% of the needed funds.