Sum­mer Streets is an annual cel­e­bra­tion of New York City’s most valu­able pub­lic space—our streets. On three con­sec­u­tive Sat­ur­days in August (AUGUST 2nd, 9th, and 16th) from 7am-1pm, nearly seven miles of NYC’s streets are opened for peo­ple to play, run, walk and bike. Sum­mer Streets pro­vides space for healthy recre­ation and encour­ages New York­ers to use more sus­tain­able forms of trans­porta­tion. In 2013, more than 300,000 peo­ple took advan­tage of the open streets.

Sum­mer Streets is mod­eled on other events from around the world includ­ing Ciclovía in Bogotá, Colom­bia and the Paris Plage in France. The event is part bike tour, part walk­ing tour, part block party—a great time for exer­cise, peo­ple watch­ing, or just enjoy­ing sum­mer morn­ings. Passersby are weclome to par­tic­i­pate in arts and crafts work­shops, lis­ten to musi­cal per­for­mances, learn to salsa dance, eat healthy snacks, climb a 25′ climb­ing wall, soar through the sky on a 160′ zipline and explore a 179 years voice tunnel.

Held between 7:00 am to 1:00 pm, Sum­mer Streets extends from the Brook­lyn Bridge to Cen­tral Park, along Park Avenue and con­nect­ing streets, with easy access from all points in New York City, allow­ing par­tic­i­pants to plan a trip as long or short as they wish. All activ­i­ties at Sum­mer Streets are free of charge, and designed for peo­ple of all ages and abil­ity lev­els to share the streets respectfully.

For a map of the Sum­mer Streets route, click here

For more info on Sum­mer Streets visit their web­site

Photo Credit: streets​blog​.org