Oaklavia: come play in the streets!

This Sunday, June 27th from 10am until 2pm you can go play in the streets of Oakland! Well, not all of them. Broadway from Grand down to 10th Street or so, plus part of Washington and 7th Street will be closed to vehicle traffic for Oaklavia.

The event is being put on by Walk Oakland Bike Oakland (WOBO), a volunteer-run organization that aims to improve neighborhood quality of life by making walking and biking in Oakland safe, easy, accessible and fun. Besides raising awareness of the need to make Oakland safer and easier to walk and bike, Oaklavia looks to be fun. The event was inspired in part by the wildly successful Sunday Streets events in San Francisco, which was in turn inspired by Ciclovía event in Bogota, Columbia. The latter has been going on for 35 years now and closes down more than 70 miles of streets to auto traffic. Thousands of people turn out and enjoy their cities in a whole new way, and businesses get exposure to new faces.

As part of Oaklavia, some businesses that are normally closed on Sundays will be open to cater to the expected crowds. There will also be different events along the way: bike safety from East Bay Bike Coalition, circus arts from the Kinetic Arts Center, live music and cafe seating along the route, and more. La Borinqueña Mex-icatessen will be celebrating its 66th birthday!

I'll be volunteering (not sure whether in the morning or the afternoon yet, nor exactly what I'll be doing), and I hope to see you out there, on foot or on bike! Please help spread the word so lots of people can enjoy this fun event.