Open Streets Festival to close King Street between Gore and Gage Parks

Hamilton's latest edition of Open Streets will take place Sunday in downtown on the longest stretch of roadway ever used for the event.

Four kilometres of a major downtown Hamilton, Ont. corridor is set to transform into a gala this weekend welcoming nothing but foot traffic and activity stations.

The 2023 edition of the Open Streets Hamilton festival is the biggest the city has ever seen and it will close King Street East between Gore and Gage Parks for four hours on Sunday.

“It’s really creating this temporary space like an urban park where you can come for recreation, whether it’s walking, cycling or wheeling and going to some activity hubs. There are five activity hubs across the corridor,” said Peter Topalovic, City of Hamilton active transportation and mobility, in an interview with 900 CHML.

The open streets program has been adopted by a number of cities worldwide, starting 1974 in Bogota, Columbia.

That South American event, called Cyclovia (translated to “Cycle-way”), closes major streets to vehicular traffic on Sundays, and still runs today using 122 kilometres of roadway in the program.

Toronto, Ottawa, New York City and Guadalajara are examples of some other large cities across North America that have similar events.

Hamilton’s version started in 2010 and has had successful runs on James St. North and Barton Street East.