A ton of people turned out for the first Summer Streets event in Greenwood and Phinney Ridge, taking part in a wide range of on-the-street activities. For the kids, it was street chalk, the Bubble Man and a fire engine at Station 21:
Held in conjunction with the monthly Art Up Greenwood-Phinney Art Walk, more than 30 venues had artists on display, including this live painting exhibition outside the Greenwood Collective, by Matamuros (Seattle Urban Mural Crew). Thanks, Brian Hart for the photo!
Here’s a few more shots Brian gave us:
Brian’s shot of Prost! is reminiscent of a European scene where it’s common to find streets taken over by pedestrians.
Plenty of Seattle Police were on hand, with the Segway rider and the Harley-riding motorcycle cops being especially popular.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Gail // Apr 12, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Will there be more “Summer Streets” events on Greenwood this summer? It would be great to see this happen once a month!
2 Neighbor // Apr 13, 2009 at 7:44 am
Where was this “ton” of people?!? I walked up and down Greenwood from 65th to 85th twice between 6 and 8 p.m., in between errands. With the exception of the bubble-man group outside Ken’s, I saw probably twice as many cops as people. And the only people I did see either said: A) Why is the street closed? or B) Why did they spread this thing over 22 blocks?
I’m sure this street-closure thing is an interesting concept, but I’m not sure the execution is there. None of the local businesses on the strip that I patronized had good things to say about their experience — few even realized what was going on, spare the fact that they almost had their cars towed. And spreading this over a wide stretch of Greenwood, most of which isn’t necessarily conducive to open-door businesses, is but only a sure way to make this look sad.
If the city does this again in coming years, maybe only stretch it from 74th to 85th?
3 Jules // Apr 13, 2009 at 10:59 am
I was really excited to see the number of people on the street, even all the way down past 85th. I felt like the chamber really worked hard to let all of the businesses in the community know what was going on, but we are members so perhaps my perspective is off. I also felt like the chamber did a good job trying to give businesses ideas on how to promote their services and extend outside of their doors. Down by our business there was some outdoor music, Piper Village had a booth, we had some outdoor live painting and a Penguins on the March booth. Wish we could have explored other parts of the streets but everyone we talked to had nothing but good things to say. Also we LOVED the bike check areas! Great idea! Thanks for the shoutout Phinneywood for our business. We really love your blog!
4 Erik // May 13, 2009 at 7:30 am
My family had a GREAT time, walking from 105th to 74th before we even realized it. I think the weather played a bit of a role…chilly and gray that night. Perhaps if this actually happened in the Summer, the turnout would be MUCH better.
I hope they continue with these.
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