During the 2015 Wichita Riverfest Sundown Parade, we were just spectators sitting on a curb. One thing we noticed was that there wasn't a single person in a wheelchair participating in the parade.

 

However, we did see a group, mostly children, in hand-cycles in the parade. They looked exhausted trying to keep up with everyone else. But what choice did they have? Their wheelchairs were left at the start of the parade! It was painful to watch.

 

We decided at that moment, no matter what it took, we would be ready to enter our wheelchair accessible quadricycle into the next year's parade. Easier said than done. All we had at the time was our PVC prototype and handwritten plans for a steel tube prototype.

 

With lots of hard work and a little luck, we not only had our first metal prototype in the parade, but we were able to feature our production model in the parade as well!

 

To say it was a hit would be an understatement. We received numerous standing ovations along the parade route as we ran circles around each other in the street.

 

The hand-cycle group bowed out of this year's parade. Out with the old. In with the new.

 

Now, it is back to work in the shop to get ready for our first cross country tour. Hopefully, one day soon, there will be RyanFlyers in parades all over the place!