THUNDER BAY - People were quite literally dancing in the streets this weekend, as a busy section of road on the city’s north side was temporarily shut down and given back to the people.
On Sunday, Open Streets Thunder Bay held its fourth event in the city, closing down a section of Algoma Street to vehicular traffic from John Street to Egan Street from noon to 3 p.m. and allowing people to walk, bike, or rollerblade down the open street.
“People are definitely reclaiming the streets,” said Ashley Priem, a program coordinator with EcoSuperior. “We often think that streets are just for cars, but Open Streets helps people reimagine pubic space. Streets can be public spaces as well and they become public parks during Open Streets.”
The purpose of Open Streets is to get people in the community active while exploring city neighbourhoods, shopping at local businesses, and connecting with others.
“People feel a bigger sense of pride about their neighbourhood and their city when you have these kinds of events,” Priem said. “They definitely help people socially connect with each other and that helps make people feel better about where they live.”
This is the fourth Open Streets event in Thunder Bay, with two being held in 2014 and one in 2015. Due to a lack of funding last year, the program was put on hiatus, but with the help of an Ontario 150 grant, the program was able to return and Priem said there are two more Open Streets planned for September and October this year in other neighbourhoods.
“Studies have shown that people on foot or people on bikes spend more or visit more local businesses,” Priem said. “When you are in a car you don’t see what really is around you and you just keep driving on.”
More than 2,000 people have attended past Open Street events and Priem said she is hoping for a similar showing this year.
For Carl Godin of Windy Sunshine Farm, Open Streets is a great chance for him to connect with the community and promote healthy lifestyles.
On Sunday, Godin was selling food produced by the boreal forest, including blueberries picked near Wawa, Ont.
“It’s good to promote healthy foods,” he said. “To prevent disease is much cheaper than to treat it afterwards. The forest around here is full of food.”
Godin said anything that promotes a healthy lifestyle is a great addition to the community and Open Streets also helps the health of the local economy.
“It gets people out walking and that’s always good for you,” he said. “But it’s good exposure. A lot of the vendors here have healthy products and food and things like that. It’s all local, which, as everybody knows, every dollar spent locally helps the economy locally as much as possible.”
Some people were having too much fun to realize just how active they were being while taking to the streets. Wendy Huang of the Thunder Bay Chinese-Canadian Association quite literally had people dancing in the streets.
The TBCCA hosts ballroom dance classes and Huang said when she heard about Open Streets, she had to participate and dance in the street.
“We are really excited about it,” she said. “This is great. We’ve been dancing with outside classes, but when there is no traffic on the road and the weather is perfect in the summer time, we love to get out.”
Several people could not help but get swept up into the music and rhythm and Huang was really excited by how quickly they picked up the steps.
And that’s what Open Streets is all about for Huang and many others. Huang said the summers here are short, so it’s best to get out, be active, and enjoy yourself.
“The other thing is, on this side of the world there is too much traffic,” she said. “Usually you don’t do anything on the street because it’s dangerous, but now there are no cars here and it’s lovely to see our neighbours and folks on the street walking, biking and skating. It’s lovely.”
Two other Open Street events will be held on Simpson Street and Victoria Avenue on Sept. 16 and on Court Street on Oct. 1.
