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Bend Open Streets: Spring edition

We’ve got Mother’s Day planned for you.

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Bring the whole family downtown on Sunday May 13 (Mother’s Day) for Open Streets and free fun.

Commute Options Bend

Where the fun is at for Bend's Open Streets, May 13th 2018.

Open Streets is a worldwide initiative that temporarily closes streets to automobiles for fun physical activities. The City of Bend tag-teams with Commute Options to host this event at two activity hubs, one at the Environmental Center and one next to Bend Electric Bikes on Hill Street.

In each hub there will be a multitude of family friendly games and events hosted by local shops and people. The scheduled events so far include: Urban Arrow family bike demos, free e-bike rides, a cycle pub, swag, raffles, photo lounge, Humm Kombucha (while it lasts) and more may be announced.

City Of Bend

The proposed areas for Bend commuter friendly Greenways.

One event car-free commuters may be excited for is the Neighborhood Greenways demo. Neighborhood Greenways is term used by many cities across the country that serves as a more comfortable and safe route for walking and biking. In Bend, the proposed area of Greenways for 2018, spans in two locations: NE 6th Street (between Butler Market and Greenwood), and NW 15th Street (between Simpson and Galveston).

In this demonstration area (marked with yellow triangle on first map), a "parklet," small impromptu park, will be created to show the 75 by 100-foot area of unused of asphalt.

Robin Lewis, Bend Metropolitan Planning project coordinator, said, "this area of asphalt is so confusing, we want to give people a visual idea of what this space could look like as a usable area for walkers and bikers."

(If you have ever been to the 5 legged intersection between Harriman, Hunter and Georgia, you know what Lewis is getting at.)

Lewis is excited to share her upcoming community projects at Open Streets this year. "It is so much easier to show people on the street, this is what we are thinking," Lewis said.

"We have a project coming up next year, that is a neighborhood greenway within Old Town district of Bend.”

Bend Open Streets is also a sister event to the May Bike More challenge. The challenge is simple: ride your bike more, log your minutes and win prizes, anyone can get involved throughout May.