P-G: OpenStreetsPGH draws crowd despite cool, wet weather

Derby Brats Roller Derby Team at OpenStreetspGH in June

Nate Guidry | Post Gazette

Thousands enjoyed a fun OpenStreetsPGH yesterday

Even unseasonably cold and wet weather couldn’t stop Pittsburghers from coming out to enjoy car-free streets with their friends and family members. At 8 am dozens gathered in the rain in Market Square to dash through the clear, low stress roads with Steel City Road Runners as people on bikes pedaled past, and attendance numbers just climbed from there.

People ran, walked, danced, and shopped and had a great time doing it producing 3.5 miles of smiling faces in Downtown, the Strip District, and Lawrenceville.

Read more in the Post-Gazette’s coverage of the event and join in the fun at the third and final OpenStreetsPGH of 2015 on Sunday, July 26.

By Lexi Belculfine / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A Lawrenceville tea shop added cookies to its menu for children, a bazaar brought bicyclists into Altar Bar and $1 slices of watermelon welcomed walkers at Wholey’s.

These were just some of the ways Pittsburgh vendors adapted Sunday to OpenStreetsPGH, which closed a 3.5-mile stretch of Butler Street and Penn Avenue and more than 25 city intersections to cars from 8 a.m. to noon. It was the second of three such closings of this thoroughfare for this year.

“There are businesses who are excited to reach out to and market to the people there for OpenStreets — and there are others who want to take their ball and go home,” said Scott Bricker, executive director of Bike Pittsburgh, which organizes OpenStreets.

Read the full article on the Post-Gazette website.


Not a member of BikePGH? Join today! We need you to add your voice! Bike Pittsburgh works to protect cyclist’s rights and promote the vision of making Pittsburgh a safer and more enjoyable place to live and to ride. For more info, check out: www.bikepgh.org/membership

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