Blog: City Blog

Open Streets Event to Give Pedestrian Experience of New South Knoxville

South Knoxville has been booming. In fact, much of the new development between the Gay Street Bridge and Island Home Avenue has only been opened in the last year or so.

You’ve probably heard about the new eight-acre, riverfront Suttree Landing Park. You’ve likely been intrigued by the announcements of chic bistros and coffee shops or the new, hip breweries in the area.

The Open Streets Knoxville event, coming to South Knoxville on Sunday, October 29, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., will give you the chance to explore it all, and without the hassle of vehicular traffic.

In case you haven’t heard of it yet, Open Streets is organized by Bike Walk Knoxville and temporarily shuts down city streets to vehicles so that pedestrians can experience a corridor of food, entertainment, and activities.

There’s over 70 free activities this year that are enjoyable for the entire family--from food tasting, to gourd tossing, to Halloween chalk drawing, to bike riding, to face painting to many, many other options of free family fun!

This time, the road closures will include the Gay Street Bridge, Council Place, Sevier Avenue, and the new Waterfront Drive.

“The goal is to get people out in the streets and enjoying the community,” said Lindsey Kimble, Coordinator for Open Streets. “By closing the Gay Street Bridge, this will make a clear demonstration of South Knoxville’s proximity to downtown, and the energy we’re getting out of the residents and business owners along this route will make the event that much better.”

Open Streets promotes all of the components that make a city livable, loveable, and therefore valuable: community, the arts, recreation, local cuisine, and alternative transportation.

As much as the Open Streets event drives patrons to visit the local businesses along the featured corridor, it’s actually local businesses that drive the event.

For example, Laundry LLC is a local yoga and fitness studio (as well as women’s apparel store) that will be participating in Open Streets by offering a free twenty-minute yoga session at 3 p.m. and at 5 p.m.

Yoga at Laundry LLC

A yoga class at Laundry LLC.

In between those sessions, Laundry will host live music and a community art project. Guests from Pure Barre will also be on site.

“Open Streets is unique, because it provides a safe and friendly environment for people to bike and walk while participating in community activities,” said Tracy Riggs, Mastermind at Laundry LLC. “From a business standpoint, I have loved the networking opportunities with our neighborhood partners.”

Laundry is located at 1124 Sevier Ave., nestled in between Alliance Brewing Company and Three Bears Coffee.

The Henley Apartments, located in South Knoxville off of Martin Mill Pike, will have a station where visitors to Open Streets can try their hand at disc golf. They will also be giving away waterproof cell phone covers (for kayakers), Frisbees, and reusable bags at their station.

“This event sounded like a great way to be a part of showcasing everything that South Knoxville has to offer, so we’re excited to host an activity station at Open Streets!” said Rebecca Sexton, Community Manager at The Henley Apartments.

Local businesses are even involved in free community bike rides during the Open Streets event. Borderland Tees will lead a ride from the north end of the Gay Street Bridge starting at 3 p.m., and Bike Zoo is hosting a kids’ ride along Suttree Landing Park’s river walk at 4 p.m.

It’s not just businesses that help run the show at Open Streets Knoxville. Even individual citizens are joining in the fun. Barry Jones will be hosting a bicycle-powered carousel. His friend, Dan Arp, saw one during his travels in Spain and was inspired to design and build one for the East Tennessee region.

The bicycle-powered carousel will be available for free rides at the Open Streets event.

Rides on the carousel will be free. There’s no hard and fast age limit, just a maximum weight of 50 pounds.

“We want to see smiles on kids’ faces,” Jones said, when explaining the inspiration for hosting this creative activity for free.

To view a list of the 70+ activities offered at the Open Streets Event, click HERE.

Posted by On 19 October, 2017 at 4:33 PM