Here's photos of, and commentary on, the third Salem Sunday Streets event that was held August 28.
I'm a big fan of Salem Sunday Streets, where some downtown roadways are closed to traffic and opened for the sole use of cyclists, walkers, and other human-powered ways of getting around.
I'm also a big fan of Portland Sunday Parkways, as I wrote about in "What Salem Sunday Streets can learn from Portland Sunday Parkways."
Over time I hope and expect that our local open streets event will become more like how Portland does things. This isn't really a criticism of Salem Sunday Streets, since the organizers are doing the best they can with what they have to work with in this town.
I got to downtown Salem around 2 pm, halfway through the noon to 4 pm event. Right away I enjoyed being able to walk down the middle of streets that normally are owned by cars and trucks. Salem feels much more pleasant without noisy vehicles speeding around.
Street Art! Nice.
I'm pretty sure this message refers to Howard Street being part of the first Bicycle Boulevards (a.k.a. Neighborhood Greenways) project in Salem that has been approved for a planning grant.
I encountered Angela Obery and her children at the Street Art area. Angela is one of the prime movers behind the push for Bicycle Boulevards in Salem. Salem Bike Boulevard Advocates organized a group ride to the Sunday Streets event and she was pleased that over 30 people took part in it.
When I got to the "main stage" on the state capitol steps, a Beatles tribute band was playing music that sounded a lot like the Fab Four. The crowd, though, was a lot thinner than the real Beatles played to.
This was a pleasingly quirky booth. I was tempted to see what sort of poem I'd get for the requested donation, but decided to pull out my camera rather than my wallet.
A food truck! Yes!
But why do I only see food trucks at events like this one? After the city council allowed food trucks to cluster in pods, I thought we'd see them in the downtown area. I hardly ever eat at a Salem food truck because I rarely encounter them. Hopefully this will change.
An overall feeling I had about the 2015 Salem Sunday Streets event was... Come on Salem! Get out and take part in this! More people, more people!
The Just Walk Salem folks were out and about doing what they do best... walking.
I ran into two fellow progressive citizen activists, KMUZ's Willamette Wake Up host Ken Adams (in blue) and Salem Weekly publisher A.P. Walther (on his paper delivery cargo bike).
If a giant sink hole had opened up and swallowed the three of us at this moment, the Mayor, her right-wing city council majority, and Chamber of Commerce PAC would have been so happy. After briefly shedding some politically correct tears, of course.
At the bus/transit mall people were able to try out new activities -- like longboarding. This woman, clad in sandals, did a good job balancing after getting some tips (and temporary hand-holding) from the guy on the left.
Yes, a fun time was had by all who attended the 2015 Salem Sunday Streets event.
We just need to find ways to get more people in this town to realize that they should pedal, walk, or skate themselves to the next Salem Sunday Streets. If they try it, they'll like it.
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