Event flyer.

Events like Sunday Parkways are known as “open streets” events. But for people who don’t feel comfortable riding in a crowd of people or who don’t have access to a bicycle due to their special needs, the event can feel closed.
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Just a few of the 25,900 people who attended Sunday’s event.
(Photos: Greg Raisman)

Sunday Parkways is one of the best Portland events for kids who like biking. It’s also great for kids who like playgrounds, bounce houses, food of any sort, dancing, art, music, etc. This week I’ll share a bit about Sunday’s first event of the season. And because there are four more to come, I’ll also share some tricks I’ve learned to get the most out of them.

Our Family Biking column is sponsored by Clever Cycles.

➤ Read past entries here.

Last weekend’s Southeast Portland Sunday Parkways was especially great for us as it was the first time my kids rode their own bikes at this event.

We attended last year’s “Sellwaukie” (Sellwood/Milwaukie) Sunday Parkways, but I carried both kids on my longtail cargo bike. And our very first Sunday Parkways was Southeast Portland Sunday Parkways 2016 with a bakfiets from the Clever Cycles rental fleet.
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(Image: Lompoc Brewing)

Just in time for Sunday Parkways season, a local brewer has released a beer in honor of the annual open street events.
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The first real-life test of the future Green Loop.

It’s official: For the first time since 2012 Portland’s Sunday Parkways event will happen on the west side of the Willamette River.
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Sunday Parkways will return to downtown this year — for the first time since 2011.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

I looked back at 2017 and decided it’s probably best to start looking ahead.

Not everything about last year was bad. We (and by “we” I mean BikePortland and our community in general) had some triumphs and we learned a great deal about important issues; but it was not our best year.

Looking ahead however, we see plenty of reasons for optimism.

The four things below are infrastructure-related. And yes, I’m fully aware that a city’s transportation culture is defined by much more than roads and bridges. I’m thinking about those other issues as well, but I’ll save those thoughts for a different day.

Here’s my list…
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Brand new route.

If you care about bicycling in Portland and want to see its benefits spread across the social, racial and economic divisions that exist in this city, you should consider taking part in Sunday Parkways this weekend.

That’s because the Portland Bureau of Transportation has put together a brand new route that will highlight neighborhoods, commercial districts and parks east of I-205 and just south of I-84. This is a place about eight miles northeast of city hall that looks and feels much different than the central city. The streets are wider and people drive faster (and more people get hurt and killed on them as a result), there isn’t a bike shop on every corner, and you won’t find nearly as much bike-specific infrastructure.

Yet.
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Please consider lending a hand! See the alert below for the details…

You gave us 10 years of Sunday Parkways For it’s 10 birthday, we need your help again!

We need your help to bring Portland another 10 years of sunny open streets starting this weekend: we simply do not have enough volunteers for North Sunday Parkways.
Sign up to join us for a few hours this weekend in North Portland, and then tell the world why it matters so much to you that you’d give your time to help make it happen. Forward this newsletter, share our Facebook posts, spread the word on Nextdoor, call your family and friends. The forecast for Sunday is calling for temperatures in the high 90’s, making it harder for some of our regular volunteers to sign up for a shift and leading some others to withdraw– Sunday Parkways needs your help now more than ever before.

Today, we need you to show your support by doing two things:

1) Sign up right now to volunteer for a shift this Sunday as an Intersection or Mobile Superhero.

2) Commit to helping us create the next “generation” of Sunday Parkways volunteers. How? Share the registration link, and persuade a friend to sign up for a shift themselves. You can also find the volunteers of the future among your family members, co-workers, and social networks. You can find them at your neighborhood associations, walks in the park, book clubs, and at Sunday Parkways itself. Invite them to see Sunday Parkways for themselves if they’ve never been, and if they’re regular attendees, ask them to lend their support by volunteering their time.

Thank you, for all that you do. See you on Sunday!

(we’ll bring the sunscreen and the popsicles)

Click here to volunteer.

Official proclamation will be passed by city council Wednesday.

This weekend Portland will celebrate the 10th year of Sunday Parkways with an official proclamation making June 25th “Portland Sunday Parkways Day”.

The beloved community event began on June 22nd 2008. Staff from the Bureau of Transportation were inspired by “Ciclovia” events in Bogota, Colombia and began planning for a Portland version in July 2007.

With no experience in doing such a large open street event, they weren’t sure how it would translate. After a few hours they got their answer: It was a resounding success. Over 15,000 people flocked to north Portland streets and a new tradition was born.

Since 2008, PBOT and their partners (most notably Kaiser Permanente, who has sponsored the event from the start), have hosted 39 events that have drawn nearly 700,000 people out of their homes and cars and into our streets — which PBOT rightly likes to refer to as “our largest public space.”

Here are some photos from that first event:

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I also made this short video…

Through all the budget debates, elections, and myriad changes to our city, to have a program like this so solidly institutionalized and all but unassailable to political whims is no small feat. The fact that Sunday Parkways is still around and stronger than ever is a testament to PBOT and the people of Portland who support it.

My only complaint about the events is that there aren’t enough of them.

Congratulations Portland! Long live Sunday Parkways!

Learn more about the route and all the fun activities planned for this weekend’s event at the city’s website.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

BikePortland is supported by the community (that means you!). Please become a subscriber or make a donation today.

Laurelhurst Park was swamped with cycling sun-seekers Sunday.
(Photos: Kevin Koch)

Sunday was a glorious day by all accounts. The weather was sublime and the streets were full of everything we love about Portland. It couldn’t have been more perfect for the first Sunday Parkways event of the season.
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(Map: City of Gresham/Gresham Chamber)

Here’s a sign that support for carfree urban spaces is growing: The main organizer of Gresham’s first-ever open streets event is its chamber of commerce.

Gresham is Portland’s eastern neighbor. On Sunday June 18th, from 10am to 2pm, the city will host what they hope becomes an annual Father’s Day tradition: an event they call Sunday Parkway. Inspired by Portland’s similarly named events that began nine years ago, the Gresham version will offer a relatively carfree, 8-mile loop with three “pit stops” where people can enjoy food, live entertainment, activities and more.

Here’s how they describe it:

Feel comfortable, safe and enjoy walking, strolling, bicycling and rolling along the city’s beautiful trail system and historic downtown… Slow down, play on our trails, connect with your neighbors, meet new friends and have fun on the trail…

Gresham Chamber of Commerce CEO Lynn Snodgrass told us she thinks it’s completely natural for her group to spearhead this event. She sees it simply as a way to have fun and promote the beauty of her city.
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