Santa Cruz Open Streets

On Sunday, October 7th, from 9am to 1pm, Santa Cruz Open Streets will create a giant temporary park on West Cliff Drive, two-miles of traffic-free street from Lighthouse Field to Natural Bridges State Park, for the community to get out, recreate and be active in a car-free environment. Activities, music and performances. FREE. Family friendly, all ages.

Come bicycle, skate, jog, walk your dog, jump rope or cartwheel down the closed street during this FREE event. Along the way stop and participate in any number of fun activities that will get you moving: zumba, salsa dance, yoga, hula hooping and much more. Also visit the many booths providing information and local resources for leading an active and sustainable life. Mingle with new and old friends as you listen to local musicians, watch inspiring performances or enjoy a snack from one of our local vendors.

The possibilities are endless, come out and play in the street with us!

SCOS goals :
*Promote health through active living
*Promote a clean environment through sustainable living practices
*Foster community connection and civic pride
*Provide a memorable, fun and unique experience to participants
*Spark ideas for creative use of public space that fosters a more livable community
*Promote local businesses and eco-tourism

Santa Cruz Open Streets (SCOS) is a new free public outdoor active recreation event scheduled for Sunday, October 7th, 2012 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on West Cliff Drive. In this unique first-time event West Cliff Drive will be transformed into a giant street park as the road is temporarily blocked to automobile traffic from Lighthouse Field to Natural Bridges State Park. People will have the chance to bike, walk, jog, skate and more through the car-free street.

Participants making their way through the two mile long street park will also have the opportunity to sample free exercise demo classes and activities located along the route, such as Zumba, hula hooping, kickboxing, dog agility training and more. In addition, outreach booths hosted by local businesses and community groups will provide resources for wellness and sustainable living. The atmosphere will be fun and festive with music and performances animating the re-invented public space.

The mission of Santa Cruz Open Streets (SCOS) is: to foster individual and community health through creative use of public space. “Our goal is to promote active and sustainable lifestyles,” said Saskia Lucas, program founder and director, “we’re providing community members a very special opportunity to recreate actively on West Cliff Drive in a way that’s normally off-limits to them. The road will temporarily be set aside just for people. Bring your friends and family, it’s going to be a blast!”

The vision is for the non-profit event to be repeated and become an established program. Event organizers aim to eventually bring the active street fun to other parts of Santa Cruz County.

Santa Cruz Open Streets joins a national and international movement of Open Streets events. Currently over 80 US cities, including New York City, San Francisco, Portland, Boulder and Missoula, are among hundreds of cities worldwide that have established on-going and highly popular Open Streets events. The recent surge in cities which are creating temporary street parks is widely credited to Ciclovía, a weekly event in Bogotá, Columbia that opens over 70 of miles of city streets to citizens for outdoor physical activity. This event, which attracts up to 2 million participants, began in the mid-1970s and continues to this day with tremendous success.

For more information on Open Streets events and resources, visit the national clearing house website: http://openstreetsproject.org/

http://scopenstreets.org/
https://www.facebook.com/SantaCruzOpenStreets