by Deborah Ervin
What is Open Streets? It’s a daytime event (11 am – 5 pm) where the streets are shut down to car traffic and filled with activities, music, and food, and people can bike/walk/hula hoop down the middle of the street enjoying it all and each other!
Open Streets Franklin takes place this year on Sunday, August 16th on Franklin Avenue from 28th Avenue in Seward all the way to Portland in Ventura Village/Phillips. Last year was our first event – we had 5,000 people attend, even with the rain, and this year we expect even more! By contrast, Open Streets Lyndale just held its 5thevent and had 15,000 people this year. Some businesses report it as their busiest day of the year.
How Can Businesses Take Part?
- Be a mini sponsor by doing something cool on the street in front of your business! (Examples of activities below.)
- Be a mini sponsor with a gift of $100 (and you still get to do something on the street in front of your business!)
- Be a block sponsor with a gift of $500 or $1,000 (different promotional packages come in exchange for those gifts). Email Alex at: alex@mplsbike.org
Mini sponsorship allows you to be on the street, to sell food, and to have amplified music. There are still permits to fill out, but the permit fee is waived. We’ll walk you through it after you officially sign up with Open Streets through the website here. If you have questions, feel free to ask me!
Activity examples: hosting music, a dunk tank, fake tattoos, bike helmet decorating, games like Wheel of Fortune and Duck Pond for prizes, giving away free drinks/food, teaching yoga on the street, interactive city building with painted cardboard boxes, Ethiopian coffee ceremony, bike rodeos and ‘fix a flat’ lessons. These are all things that actually happened last year! What cool thing could you do?
Tasty adult beverages? Open Streets and alcohol don’t mix (we can’t have it on the street). But there are awesome businesses in Seward that make/sell such things and still want to be part of the event! Do you have a parking lot right off Franklin Ave. and think you might like to host Lost Falls Distillery, or beer/music with The Hexagon?
Volunteers: We could very much use help delivering posters *this week* to businesses on Franklin about how to get involved. (And later, we’ll need help bringing hangers to the homes of residents.) Do you have an employee you can volunteer to help out? Or a volunteer who would love to help in this way? Email Erika at: erika@mplsbike.org
B-I-N-G-O: We’re doing a joint neighborhood BINGO with Phillips neighborhood to encourage folks to visit both sides of Franklin. Businesses who participated last year definitely saw increased foot traffic. Deadline to sign up is July 15. Email Deb at deborah@articulture.org or Jim Welna (jimace817@aol.com) for more details.
Social media:
- FACEBOOK: Here’s the Facebook event for Open Streets on Franklin. Feel free to use this on your website, or share it in your social media posts. You’re also entirely welcome to create your own Facebook event.
- TWITTER: Open Streets’ Twitter handle is @OpenStreetsMPLS – hashtag is #OpenStreetsMPLS
***The Next Planning Meeting*** is Thursday, July 16th from 3-4pm @ Project for Pride in Living (1035 East Franklin Avenue). There will be folks attending from both Phillips and Seward.
PHEW! I think that’s it for the moment. If you have questions/concerns/ideas – let me know – I’m here to help! deborah@articulture.org
