Everyone's favorite ciclovía will be going a little Bavarian next month. Atlanta Streets Alive is returning to Peachtree Street the afternoon of Sept. 8, and officials tell Curbed Atlanta they'll be upping the ante in terms of interactive offerings and general, bipedal amusement. The "human-powered" event will take over Peachtree — from 17th Street way down to Mitchell Street — and incorporate three beer gardens. Also, expect a bike parade extending through downtown and Midtown, a rock-climbing wall, a "Pimp Your Bike" station at MODA and even a pop-up park. Thousands attended a similar (albeit rain-soaked and shorter) event in May, which drew people from across the state. Officials say the events jibe with Atlanta's ambitions to become a top 10 bicycling city by 2016, complementing cycle-friendly infrastructure like the Eastside Trail and the city's first two-way cycletrack. They've announced another Streets Alive event less than a month after the Peachtree Street takeover.
On Oct. 6, Streets Alive will return to North Highland Avenue, a populated thoroughfare the event twice consumed last year. In May 2012, an estimated 13,000 people turned out. A few months later, after the Eastside Trail's mid-October opening, officials counted more than 20,000 attendees swarming a huge Highland-Virginia Avenue-Beltline loop.
Fans of Atlanta Falcons football should note the team plays at 1 p.m. during the first Streets Alive event (which leaves plenty of time for post-game celebrations on Peachtree, following a drubbing of the Saints). The team is off during the second event.
· Could 'Streets Alive' Happen Twice This Summer, Fall? [Curbed Atlanta]
· Thousands Ignore Rain To Play On Peachtree Street [Curbed Atlanta]
· Atlanta Street Alive [Wikipedia]