Open Streets DC shows how successful Georgia Avenue could be if it went car-free!

By: Rachelle Kafuman with photos by Noah Kaufman

For a few hours it felt like we had been transported to Oslo or Copenhagen.   But we weren't, we were actually in DC.   Where the car-free street flowed busy with pedestrians and cyclists.   

Giving it is DC, I was a little skeptical on how well the city would pull it off.   But the organizers, police, and other first responders did an excellent job of blocking off all the side streets and even garages to traffic making the event truly safe.   

Open Streets DC provided a unique opportunity for pedestrians, cyclists, strollers, and others to walk, run, and cycle through Georgia Avenue in NW DC.  Open Streets DC occurred on October 5, 2019.  The event was a very long street festival, covering three miles.  Many vendors and other entities had booths – the groups including the DC bike association (WABA), a community garden, beer vendors, restaurants, and numerous others.  Attendees had the chance to attend free fitness classes (including Zumba), run, or cycle.  

Families with young children could easily wheel their babies and toddlers in strollers or cycle with their children in all kinds of various bike carriers.   A day where families could enjoy taking their young children out without having to fear them being hurt or killed by selfish drivers who choose to do such reckless things as drive SUVs that are 3x more likely to kill or whom are texting and not  paying attention to the roads.   Also,  a great day for dog children too and we saw lots of cute dogs!   

Open Street DC included several musical acts.  For example, a steel drum band played.  Concluding the festival was including an outstanding the TOB Go-Go band with great beats, enthusiastic dancing, powerful percussions, drums, and vocals – very appropriate, as Go-Go is a musical style that starts in the nation’s capital.  TOB Go-Go band was so popular nearly the whole street plus the sidewalk filled with people watching them.   

For our trip, we arrived at the Georgia Avenue metro station and headed south.   This was our first time on Georgia Avenue and we enjoyed discovering more about this community!   We greatly enjoyed taking a quiz and learning more about urban gardening at the booth with DC community gardens.   We also had a great time at Bruce-Monroe Community Park which has a fun playground and on that day had special guests Washington Area Bicyclist Association who had a fun course and the Department of Parks and Recreation which had a special roller skating and scooter event.   Many of the scooter companies were also located in Bruce Monroe Community Park and had scooters available to try out.   We then got to try out the completely vegan restaurant Nuvegan Cafe.  We also saw the beautiful Ms. Wheelchair who demonstrated how everyone including the disabled benefits from car-free streets. 

The only downside was that the event was way too short!   After the event I saw so many  pictures of fun things I missed out on.   Please share with us what fun things you found to do during Open Streets DC (either in the comments below or in comments on social media)!