This friday is a smorgasboard of CarFree goodies in Toronto.

There is a ton of stuff going on – I’ll try to summarize it for you here:

10 AM to 2 PM – The Official CarFreeDay
After a disappointing 2005 CarFreeDay in which the City backed out on street “opening” intentions and City Councillors gave it little support (with Michael Walker going so far as to saying “ “I have a Lincoln and I’m proud of it. It’s named after the great emancipator, Abraham Lincoln. I love my country, I love my wife, I love my family and I love my Lincoln.” – good to know Walker thinks he’s American….), the Ontario Chapter of the Sierra Club employees (only 2!) and several volunteers have worked their butts off to give us a stellar event this year.

Yonge Street will be closed from Dundas down to Shuter from 10 AM to 2 PM, the Street and the Square filled with informative things from business and community groups from all around the city, and cool things like free live music all over the place, BMX stunt riders, even a big bike parking lot!

It’s a shame that the political will wasn’t there to close more of the street down, or extend the closure into rush hour times, but it’s better than nothing. The more people that come to the Dundas Square on Friday, the better for showing those at City Hall that a lot of us care about a city with less cars dominating everywhere.


9 AM to 9 PM – The Unofficial CarFreeDay
Co-ordinated by Streets Are For People, I think that the unofficial events have great potential at creating a great powerful “grassroots” movement for less cars in Toronto. They are encouraging Parking Meter Parties all day on Queen West – in which people pay for a parking spot ($1.50/hour) and legally rent a part of the road. Some people use this time to create mini-parks… others set up tables and chairs and enjoy some good food… some play music and dance.

Then, at 4 PM, people start congregating in Trinity Bellwoods Park in preparation for a CarFree Parade down Queen West. Feel free to walk it, run it, bike it, blade it, board it, whatever! Departure time is 5:30. Oh, and costumes are encouraged!

Labels: events

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