BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE
This year East Lake Street’s Open Streets celebration will be on July 24, going from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The boundaries of the East Lake Street festival are Elliot Avenue in the west and 42nd Avenue in the east.
Who else closes their streets to rampant fuel-burning horseless carriages? Well, Bogota, Colombia, for one. For 40 years, that city has closed its main streets to cars and buses for seven hours every Sunday and holiday. The idea for Open Streets came from a young Columbian radical, trained in the U.S. during the ’60s, who went home to fight the growing tide of excessive motorized traffic and unlivable urban areas. Now the idea has spread throughout Central America, Mexico and the U.S. In Spanish, the event is called Cyclovía (cycleway). But you don’t have to ride your bike, you can also just walk.
Open Streets-Minneapolis started with a single event in 2011 and now comprises eight events, of which East Lake Street is just one. In keeping with its origins, the Minneapolis version of Open Streets is co-sponsored by the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition, as well as the City of Minneapolis and Blue Cross/Blue Shield Center for Prevention. Additional sponsors include the University of MN, the Minneapolis Downtown Improvement District (DID), and Metro Transit, which among other things provides a free bus pass to anyone for the day. Go to the link for OS-ELS (http://www.openstreetsmpls.org/east_lake) and click on the link for the free Metro Transit pass to get one.
Open Streets does not announce the participants until the day of the event, so we have to go by what happened last year, plus those new participants who have announced their own presence and offerings for this year. Last year, the first Open Streets on East Lake, there was participation by Midtown Global Market, Mercado Central, Midtown Farmers Market, Longfellow Business Association, Lake Street Council and Longfellow Community Council. Food and drink sellers included those in the above markets and associations, plus Peppers and Fries, Peace Coffee and many more. The “dead” block around the Hiawatha crossing and under the LRT bridge was transformed into a pop-up market with Midtown Farmers Market vendors and others, plus roving musicians and dancing in the streets. Retail establishments moved their wares to the sidewalk, including Miller Upholstery, Forage, Ingebretsen’s and many more. In addition to bikes, other alternative transportation was highlighted—skateboards, Metro Transit and a booth to sign up for Car2Go. There were non-commercial sites, too, such as an informational tour of Pioneers’ and Soldiers’ Cemetery, the Somali Cultural Museum, In the Heart of the Beast Puppet Theatre, and the YWCA. Altogether, it was a rousing success of biking, neighboring, dancing, walking, dogs, babies, stilting, sharing, making music, eating and drinking.
One of the things that for sure will be happening is the Save the Shave site. There have already been a few rallies and things there and this is a talented group of activists, so expect to be entertained as well as informed. Save the Shave is a small coalition trying to save the building at 2019 E Lake St. from demolition. This building has a long and interesting history, but one of the most compelling reasons to save it is that it was the headquarters of the Burma Shave factory and advertising department in the halcyon years of the glorious Burma Shave highway signs. The event will feature, besides music, “historical reenactments, close shaves, traditional Burma Shave jingle writing contest, and answers to “How did this building get here?” What happened here?’ Talk to Cauliflower the Horse who is the great-great-great-great-granddaughter of the brave and powerful horse that moved this building to the spot it is today!”
A newcomer to the ever burgeoning dining scene on East Lake since last year’s Open Streets, the Hi-Lo Diner is creating a Wonderland for this year’s event. This event is being co-sponsored by the Blue Door Pub and will include a visit from the Indeed Brewing aletruck. (Spellcheck does not like that word I just made up.) Billed as a celebration of Americana, it will include a pie-eating contest (sign-up for this via a link in the Facebook Event—search for “Hi-Lo’s Wonderland”) a sock hop, classic cars on display, and carnival games. Besides Hi-Lo’s own delicious diner food (Waffles! Pies! Malts! Meatloaf!) there will be Blucies from the Blue Door and of course, many delicious brews from Indeed’s truck.
Although Parkway Pizza didn’t have a location along the route locked down yet, it will definitely be parking its food truck where you can find it. Merlins Rest is staying inside, but is celebrating Open Streets in its own way with live music and the popular summer drink from Britain, the Pimm’s Cup. And there may be dancing in the streets. Another new dining establishment along East Lake is the new flagship Quroxlow Restaurant at 15th and Lake (where Kaplan’s was some years ago). There is no notice of their participation, but with the Somali Cultural Museum less than a block away, there may be some synergy going on there.
Hymie’s Vintage Records is sure to be another repeat participant. The massive free record albums event of 2015, which Hymie’s does anyway on a smaller scale at random times, could happen again. If it’s anything like last year, it will be outdoors, with the records categorized into quirky bins, such as “Awkward Christian Music” or “Difficult Listening.” You can of course expect live music—not difficult to listen to.
The BikeMN Coalition will have a booth and they are, as last year, sponsoring a bike rodeo. They don’t say where their booth is, but I believe it’s somewhere near the Hub Bike Co-op, that is, near Minnehaha. The coalition Humanize Hi-Lake was a major player last year, so expect them to be back. Their schtick is to get a booth at the Hi-Lake intersection and then proceed to humanize it. But seriously, the coalition reports that they have been meeting throughout the year and have worked with the city, neighborhood groups and the Sierra Club to develop plans to completely overhaul this intersection, making it safer for pedestrians and bikes. A group called Grease Rag Ride and Wrench, a group for women, trans and femme bike riders, is having a tent somewhere along the route and planning to offer a bike poetry exchange and a homey “safe space” with quilts and drinks and comfy chairs. Cycles for Change will have both a booth and a table. They will have information about their programs and offer free quick tune-ups for your bike.
A totally new program offered this year is the addition of a Learning Experience to any booth, locale or activity on the route that applies for it. This is a collaboration of the U of M’s Learning Dreams program and Hennepin County Libraries, the East Lake Library in this case. Any group that adds a learning experience to their site, with help from the library or the U of M, will have their participation fee waived. Because the application process is still open for non-food-service sites, no list of participants is available, so I guess if you want some free learning, you’ll just have to get out there at 11 a.m. and bike or walk the entire route. That could be a learning experience in itself. If you have or know of any groups participating in Open Streets on East Lake that could benefit from offering a Learning Experience, the link to apply is at www.learningdreams.org/celebratelearning.
So what if you don’t ride a bike? Can you still participate? Absolutely! There is always the free bus pass to consider, or if you prefer to drive but not your own car, Car2Go and Uber are both offering a way to get to the Street. Once you get there, you can just walk. Take your dog or other sociable pet along with. You can start at the 42nd Avenue end, and have a late breakfast at the Hi-Lo, then amble slowly westward. Stop for a coffee break at the Hiawatha underpass and soak in the beauty of the future of this intersection, maybe buying some necessaries from the Farmers Market stalls. Proceed to the library, for another break. Another rest stop at Ingebretsen’s, which is sure to have some great offerings. Then wander on down to the end of the stretch at the Midtown Global Market for a late lunch and a few beers from the Eastlake Craft Brewery before you catch your bus home. Along the way, there is music, dance, culture and people watching. A perfect Sunday in South Minneapolis.
