Giant slide is a highlight of Summer Streets program on first three Saturday mornings in August (photo by twi-ny/ees)
Park Ave. & 72nd St. to Foley Square
Saturday, August 12 & 19, free, 7:00 am – 1:00 pm
www.nyc.gov
Now in its eighth year, Summer Streets will continue for the next two Saturday mornings, as Park Ave. will be closed to vehicular traffic from 72nd St. to Foley Square and the Brooklyn Bridge from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm, encouraging people to walk, run, jog, blade, skate, slide, and bike down the famous thoroughfare, getting exercise and enjoying the great outdoors without car exhaust, speeding taxis, and slow-moving buses. There are five rest stops along the route (Uptown at 52nd St., Midtown at 25th, Astor Pl. at Lafayette St., SoHo at Spring & Lafayette, and Foley Square at Duane & Centre), where people can relax and enjoy food and drink, live performances, fitness classes, site-specific art installations, dog walks, bicycle workshops, and other activities, all of which are free. Below are some of the highlights.
Foley Square Rest Stop
Beachside Slide (advance preregistration required), Adaptive Obstacle Challenge, MSG/New York Knicks and New York Liberty brand ambassadors, DOT Hand-Cycle Demonstration, Elisa Monte Dance (interactive Boomerang on August 12 and Lost Art on August 19), historical reenactors Dr. and Mrs. Benjamin Franklin, bike rentals and valets
SoHo Rest Stop
Fitness classes, 5K Walk Concert, Honest Tea Activation, Clif Kids Bike Park, interactive “Pulsus” sculpture by Allen Sayegh
Astor Place Rest Stop
Citi Mobile Everest 360, Mini Golf NYC, Food Sessions by Daily tous les jours and Nico Fonseca with guest chef John Mooney (advance registration required), Paws and Play Dog Park and workshops, NYC Water On the Go, “Smellmapping Astor Place” by Kate McLean (RSVP for “Smellwalk” with Miriam Songster here), Village Alliance: “Creativity Cubed: Faces, Places and Traces” (August 12 only)
Midtown Rest Stop
Health and Fitness Zone (with yoga, dance, meditation, more), New York Road Runners, NYC Parks Mobile Fitness Unit, Learn to Ride Classes for Kids and Adults by Bike New York, Recycle-a-Bicycle Workshop, Taste of Summer Sampling Zone, Taste of Summer Performance Stage with cooking demos and live music, interactive “Smell Synth” exhibit with Museum of Food and Drink, NYCDOT Mobility Management Program
Uptown Rest Stop
Adventure Zone (with the Appalachian Mountain Club, Discover Outdoors Foundation, East Coast Greenway Alliance, and Surfrider Foundation), Adaptive Obstacle Course + Bouldering Wall, I Love NY mobile visitors center, Zipline, Loudest Yeller Historical Bicycle Tour, Environmental Zone (with NYBG, Design Trust for Urban Space, Talk Trash City, more), Urban Agriculture Workshops with Parkways, City of New York programming (with DOT/DDC Green Infrastructure, DOT Energy Management, NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, more), DOT Arts & Culture Hub (with Noguchi Museum, Museum of the City of New York, National Museum of the American Indian, El Museo del Barrio, CultureNow, more)