When the Goathead Monster revealed itself before the big bike parade at the first annual Boise Goathead Fest, it was worried that the thousands of people it saw gathered before it were there out of hatred. After all, “rides have been ruined, tires have been trashed, and punctures have permeated” the “pedal-powered lives” of pretty much everyone in attendance, and the Goathead Monster was to blame. For that reason, hundreds (perhaps thousands) of pounds of puncture vine had been pulled around Boise throughout the month of July, all in preparation for this inaugural event.
Certainly, those of us who ride bikes regularly have a sore spot for this problematic plant. Yet, we weren’t there in anger. We were there to celebrate bicycles, community, friendship, and summer, and even if it took a villain like the Goathead Monster to bring us all together, how could we be mad?
My bike decorated with a papier–mâchée goathead.
Bicycle events like this one have been a feature of summers in Boise, Idaho for years now. For over a decade, Tour de Fat was the main event, but after dropping Boise from its tour schedule starting this year, Boise (with New Belgium Brewing‘s continued support) was left to create its own thing. Boise Bicycle Project, along with the help of several other bike-centric and bike-friendly organizations, put together Boise Goathead Fest. The trappings are similar to Tour de Fat – a bike parade, along with music, food, drinks, costumes, games, and weirdness. The main difference is that this event is “bona fide Boise” … and goathead themed.
As a bicycle enthusiast, this is already my kind of event. As a plant nerd – and even more so, as a weeds-obsessed plant nerd – a noxious weed-themed festival is about as on the nose as you can get. Where else are you going to see people dressing up their bikes and themselves like a noxious weed? And where else are you going to find people who, despite their disdain for this plant (or perhaps because of it), decide to come together and celebrate? In a way, it makes me wish we could throw a party for all vilified plants, each one getting a chance to tell its story, and each one getting some time under the spotlight, in spite of the negative feelings we may have towards them.
Sierra rode in the parade dressed up as a Goat Buster.
Goathead is an easy plant to rally around. As executive director of Boise Bicycle Project said on Idaho Matters, goatheads are a “bane of bicycling, and they don’t discriminate. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, what sort of bicycle you’re riding … you’re going to get a flat tire from these things.” Perhaps other noxious weeds don’t quite have the charisma that puncture vine does – the ability to “unify everyone together” – but that’s okay. I’ll just have to find a way to celebrate each of them some other way. As it is, we now have Boise Goathead Fest, and if that means that every summer for years to come people will be donning goathead costumes and coming together to party in a positive way, what more can we ask for?
goathead art
more goathead art
The goathead monster is center stage.
bicycle-powered stage
awkward botany 
Interesting thread here. I love the idea of a nuisance becoming a rallying (literally) point (also literally)! Checked the article linked on how to ID “Goathead”. I noted the claim that this plant, Tribulus terrestris, supposedly originated in Mediterranean Europe, but my readings indicate it arrived there via India. Although there is some disagreement about exactly where it is native, it’s often considered an invasive exotic in Mediterranean countries as well.
Something I find ironic about Tribulus terrestris, is that sex and fitness supplements formulated to boost testosterone levels. This the same plant costing millions of dollars to control globally is also netting millions for the herbal supplement industry. I wonder if we could apply some out of the box thinking to close that loop?
Ooops, a couple of typos, which this format won’t enable editing. Second paragraph should read: “Something I find ironic about Tribulus terrestris, is that sex and fitness supplements formulated to boost testosterone levels often include it. Thus the same plant costing millions of dollars to control globally is also netting millions for the herbal supplement industry. I wonder if we could apply some out of the box thinking to close that loop?
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