Open Streets

Even more fun than Supercrawl (Hamilton's art-music-culture event on James St. N.), Open Streets saw James Street closed to car traffic from Wilson all the way down to past Burlington St, from nine in the morning to three in the afternoon today. The event comprised of seven or eight blocks of neighbourhood-produced entertainment, socializing, sport, food, sales (both in stores and driveways), art and culture. I brought my skateboard, the use of which was encouraged by the greeter in the tent at Wilson St. It was so amazing to have all that urban space, normally simultaneously used and ignored by car traffic, made available for recreational, local and self-produced activities.



The Kiwanis Club's mobile skatepark was set up just past Strachan, and my array of oldschool trickery provoked one kid to ask just how old I was, and how long I'd been skating for.
Then there was my friend's two kids, who were duly impressed as well that their dad's old fogey of a friend
could actually bust so many moves on a skateboard. I only fell once, and that was because I was trying to show off to my girlfriend, who says "I'm such a kid", probably because of my need for attention. The middle of the road is amazingly smooth and pleasant to skateboard on...a nice change from the pitted, rugged curb-side that I nomally navigate on my way down James. And I didn't have to watch out for any car doors suddenly opening!












DJ Mathematica was spinning some awesome remixes at the corner of Burlington and James. I really like James St. N., and so seeing all the life and activity on the road itself was extremely uplifting.






It was as if all the life that one knows is flourishing on and around the street, all the human energy, talent, feeling and practices that one catches piecemeal glimpses of in the everyday navigation of a place, was given a venue to present itself all at once--a veritable flowering of the street and its people. The weather was perfectly cool and sunny. It was a fine afternoon in a summer that keeps offering unexpected surprises and delights, even now that the summer is officially over.