Taking back the streets, one wheel at a time

The Boise Bicycle Project hosts second annual Open Streets Boise event

The sun shines brilliantly down on the streets of W Ustick Rd between Cole Road and Mountain View Drive. Instead of the usual crossing cars, the streets are transformed, bustling with people of all ages, riding in and out on bikes alongside their pets and children. This lively atmosphere was all thanks to the Boise Bicycle Project’s second annual Open Streets Boise “car-free celebration”. 

The evolving project began in the late 1900s when a man by the name of Jeff Lebesch created the Tour De Fat, a cycling tour that began in Fort Collins, Colorado, to celebrate beer and biking. 

After several years of the traveling event running through the streets of Boise, the Tour De Fat eventually moved on, but not without leaving a lasting impression. 

In 2018, the Boise Bicycle Project began its own event inspired by Tour De Fat — Goathead Fest, an event where the community came together to pick the invasive weeds known as goatheads.

“[Goathead Fest] was a really fun event where we partnered with the city of Boise to pick goatheads throughout the summer in areas where folks were relying on biking as a mode of transportation,” said Whitney Schrader, marketing manager of the Boise Bicycle Project. 

“The Goathead Fest was this big celebration at the end of the picking season to celebrate all of those efforts,” Schrader added. “We ended up pivoting from that because we really wanted to evolve and scale the event and bring in more partners.” 

This pivot gave birth to Open Streets Boise, which temporarily transforms neighborhood streets throughout Boise into spaces where Boiseans can bike, walk and roll without the presence of motorized vehicles. 

“The Boise Bicycle Project is a great organization that does a lot for the community. I believe in promoting bikes and fewer cars on the road. It just seemed like a fun way to support things that I care about,” said Rebecca Strauss, who has volunteered with the program since it was known as the Goathead Fest. 

“This [event] has so much more space and so much more potential to do more community building,” Strauss added. “It’s just bikes, people, dogs and happiness.” 

People from across the Treasure Valley showed up for food, drinks, music and fun in the sun. 

“This year has been super fun,” said Molly Horn, first-year participant at Open Streets Boise. “I love that they have such a wide spread of vendors, small businesses, local initiatives and nonprofits, all being represented.” 

Some of the businesses included big names such as Let’s Ride, BOI, Valley Regional Transit, The YMCA and Faces of Hope. 

Other smaller pop-up vendors lined the open streets with locally owned businesses and a plethora of food trucks, like Amy’s Rock ‘N Art, Machu Picchu Peruvian, Georgie Bea’s Squeeze Caribbean A3 catering and Sri Lanka Spice Cuisine. 

Further down the street, curving into the neighborhood of Mountain View Elementary School, children rode through a makeshift obstacle course. The makeshift “tunnel” was crafted into an amusing display built from traffic cones and pool noodles. 

Jake Holub, one of the “Roll” Models from the Valley Regional Transit, discussed “Safe Routes to School,” a program that partners with the Boise Bicycle Project to teach students pedestrian and cycling safety.

“We go to the majority of schools from the Boise and West Ada school districts and teach pedestrian and cycling safety,” said Holub. “The ideal situation is we go into a school and teach an in-class session. After that session, we’ll go back to that school and do an outside experiential learning thing.” 

Holub talks about the importance of kids learning how to navigate the roads safely. 

“There is some impetus on the cyclist or walker to be seen, but also it’s tough when the infrastructure doesn’t necessarily support that,” Holub added. “Even if kids don’t choose to bike or walk, hopefully in the future they’ll be better drivers.” 

Wandering among the crowd were residents who lived along the closed-down street. “I know they did this last year, but we didn’t get a chance to go, and then this year we found out they were doing it right in our backyard,” said local resident Jennifer Riggs. Her husband, two children and their tiny dog, Lemon, attended the Open Streets Boise event on Sunday. 

Riggs has a long history with the neighborhood, as her grandmother purchased their family home in the 1960s.

 “Not as many cool costumes, but the vibes are great,” she added.

Aaron Madigan, a photographer on the streets, commented on his own “homecoming” back to these very streets.

“It’s been a little bit of time since I’ve been to one,” Madigan said. “It’s a really great homecoming, because I grew up with BBP and Timmy, the founder of [Boise Bicycle Project], who no longer works there. It’s really cool to see.” 

“I’m also very excited to see the diversity in the booths. I think, especially in this climate in our country right now, there’s a lot of talk about not showing up for that,” Madigan added. “Being able to see such a wide range of foods and programs and different people and different cultures is really refreshing right now, so I’m really stuck on that.” 

Open Streets Boise goes on to celebrate another year, with families, vendors and others in the community showing up to support the Boise Bicycle Project’s mission of reimagining urban spaces.

“With Open Streets Boise, being able to really reimagine our neighborhoods and communities as places for people and not just cars is really powerful,” said Schrader. “If we really try to imagine if we can have spaces like that all over Boise where people can walk and bike and really take that pride and ownership in their own neighborhood.”