Car Free Vancouver is on Facebook and on Twitter @carfreeyvr. Use hashtags #CFDrive #CFKits #CFMain #CFWest when tweeting about your Car-Free neighbourhood!
Car Free Vancouver – Main Street is on Facebook and on Twitter @carfreemain (#CFMain)
WHAT: Car-Free Vancouver Day
WHEN: Sunday June 20 (Father’s Day), noon to whenever
WHERE: Kitsilano, Commercial Drive, West End, Main Street and now, NORTH VAN!
WHY: To reclaim our streets for people
Car-Free Vancouver Day is a grassroots, citizen-led, 100% volunteer-organized civic celebration. Launched in 2005 with the Car-Free Commercial Drive Festival, it has grown to include FIVE large festival nodes. Each of the five community-initiated fests has a distinct neighbourhood flavour.
Kitsilano boasts a tapestry of over 25 block parties all day with street “living rooms”, dances, performers and potlucks.
Funky Main Street (between 16th and 33rd, noon to 
features skateboard demos, Terminal City Roller Derby, Vancouver Peoples’ Summit, and multimedia performances.
The West End (Denman Street, noon to 6) goes unplugged with Spoken Word tent, SHAG seniors’ tent, Square Dancing lessons, Capoeria, and Chamber Music.
Bohemian Commercial Drive (Venables to First Ave, noon to 6) rocks from noon to six, with street hockey, Drum Jam, Healing Garden, Tribal Harmonix Dance Stage, tons of babies and dogs, and merry mayhem abundant.
And new this year, North Vancouver will be going Car-Free from 3rd to Esplanade St on Lonsdale Ave, noon to 6pm. North Van is going car-free with a Beach theme, featuring merriment with a distinctly coastal vibe.
“Less cars means more community.” says CFVD Co-founder Matt Hern. “This is a day to visualize what an ethical and ecological city might look like. To give people a chance to reclaim their streets, hang out with their neighbours, and enjoy a great car-free day. Cities all over the world are embracing car-free streets, far beyond what we have here. Mayor Robertson just committed $25 million toward bicycle infrastructure in Vancouver, and that’s a great start to reclaiming our streets. Car Free Day is a way to celebrate the future of our city.”
Organizers strongly recommend that participants bike, walk, skate, or take transit from Fest to Fest — but DON’T DRIVE! Parking is guaranteed to be nasty. TransLink will have extra buses in service, and there will be plenty of treats, surprises, and friendly faces on the bike routes between the Fests. Most Fests feature Bike Valet Parking.
And of course, it’s all FREE: Free of charge. Free of boring corporate stuff. Free of cars.
Chris co-founded the monthly bike-ins known as Critical Mass that have spread to five continents and over 300 cities. He is director of the multimedia history project Shaping San Francisco and was one of the founders and editors of the San Francisco magazine Processed World. Carlsson has edited four books, published a novel, After the Deluge, (Full Enjoyment Books: 2004) and his most recent work is Nowtopia (AK Press: 2008).
He will be in Vancouver from June 16th – 20th as part of Car Free Vancouver Day!
Chris will be speaking about Critical Mass, pirate radio, guerrilla gardeners and the invisible revolution of everyday life that is setting the foundation to address for profound global challenges of the era, from climate change to social decay.
CFVD is hosting three events with Chris:
We’re excited to share the following endorsement for our festival from noted local scientist and environmental activitist, David Suzuki:
Cities are for people. We have been designing our cities for efficiency for cars and commerce but forgot people. Walking, biking, roller blading, bussing, enable us to experience our surroundings and other people and to move the way our bodies evolved to move. I hope car free days will remind us of the social, ecological and medical benefits of getting out of our cars. David Suzuki
In case you haven’t heard yet, VELOPALOOZA will take back the streets of our fine city from June 4 to June 13, 2010.
Velopalooza is 10 days of bikey fun. With 34 events, most organized by individuals, bikers of all persuasions are likely to find many events of interest. Nearly all events are free. This is a great windup fur CAR FREE VANCOUVER DAY, the following Sunday, June 20.
Check out: www.velopalooza.ca for the whole scoop.
Some car-free news from the other side of the globe…
Sydney City Council appears to have won state government support for banning motorists from parts of Sydney’s CBD. Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s long-held plan to make central Sydney more pedestrian-friendly could start to become a reality.
Read more at ABC News.
We need people to do 2-hour shifts on Sunday, June 20, 2010, between 10am and 8pm on Denman Street. We’re looking for people to fill the following positions…
Fill out our online volunteer signup form. Sign up early and have your choice of times and positions!
