I mentioned Oaklavia in my events listing yesterday, but I thought it deserved a post of its own, since it’s shaping up to be a pretty incredible event.
You might have guessed by now that I love it when streets are closed down to cars for pretty much any reason. I love walking down the middle of Telegraph, Broadway, or any main thoroughfare during street fairs and other events. But during those events, there’s usually a lot of stuff in the street – music stages, vendors, tables, and more. And because they’re typically concentrated on a couple of blocks, they’re crowded, so it’s not easy to walk through quickly and it’s even harder to bike.
Oaklavia – a project of Walk Oakland Bike Oakland – will finally provide an opportunity for Oaklanders to just enjoy the street and the surroundings in Uptown, Downtown, and Old Oakland. You can stroll through slowly, chatting with people along the way and snapping photos of the gorgeous architecture along the route, or you can speed by on your bike, all the time not worrying about cars.
Even though Oaklavia is centered around enjoying and appreciating the bicyclist and pedestrian experience, there will be plenty of activities along the way as well. There will be dance and martial arts classes, music performances, art viewing, plenty of food, and of course bike safety and bike repair classes. You can find the full listing of activities and a detailed route map in this large PDF or in the pull out ad in the East Bay Express tomorrow.
So whatever your plans are this Sunday, take at least an hour between 10am-2pm to play in the streets at Oaklavia.
Living in the O 
Goodness, but this is a busy weekend. Makes ya want to be in two places at once.
Yeah, definitely is a busy weekend. But there’s plenty of time to do it all 🙂
if I wasn’t already planning on sleeping off dyke march, I would certainly attend.
Can’t wait.
Becks, I know you like walking but this is the day to borrow a bike and ride the whole route cuz it will be totally safe and there’s nothing like the freedom of being on a bike (IMO). For anyone interested in urban design and redesigning our streets without cars as the model, check out the Parklets for People at 8th and Washington in Old Oakland with cafe seating, a tattoo parlor and probably even a fooz ball table. Full disclosure (and your readers seem to like that) is that I’m coordinating this event for WOBO, but even if I weren’t, I think this is about the coolest thing to happen in Oaktown for a VERY long time. Remember the early days of the Art Murmur? We really need folks to turn out so we can do it again next year–we’re thinking about going all the way along Telegraph between Berkeley and Oakland for a “here and also here” experience. Come in costume and bring your cameras people!