Thank you Calgary for another great Bow River Flow!

In addition to the 21 live music acts, a dozen fitness activities, and a procession, The Bow River Flow hosted a mayoral candidates alternative transportation parade. (l-r) Naheed Nenshi, Bob Hawkesworth, Paul Hughes, Kent Hehr, and Craig Burrows.

Read the Calgary Herald coverage of the 2010 Bow River Flow:

Lea Storry

Or paste the following link for Adrienne Beattie's article in your browser:

http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/Opinion+River+Flow+showed+vote+Calgary+mayoral+race/3443953/story.html

Visit Flickr.com for 2010 Bow River Flow photos!

Imagine a great flowing commons through the heart of our city – an event that is inclusive of all Calgarians. Imagine an event where you don't need money and you're not just an audience member but a participant in performance. Imagine collective sound, costumes, and custom rolling art.

The 2010 Bow River Flow will bring an expanded route, creating a complete loop. The two south lanes of Memorial Dr. will be opened to human powered transportation from 3 St. to 9 St. NW. From from the east end of the Memorial Drive closure, the event will cross the Bow River and Prince's Island to the south side pathway along the path by the Prince's Island lagoon to the CTrain pedestrian bridge and cross the river to the north side. Get your juices flowing for the Bow River Flow!

The Bow River Flow is a celebration of healthy active lifestyles - a non-commercialized, non-motorized celebration where one day of the week we share the road and allow excess lanes to be enjoyed by people in a safe, car-free environment.

Its an opening, not a closure. The event simply opens space for Calgarians to stroll the historic Memorial Drive promenade, relax, unwind, breathe in some fresh air, perhaps take in a yoga session, or just enjoy the cool breezes off the river.

The Bow River Flow is Calgary’s answer to similar events that have blossomed in cities all over the world – Portland, Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver, Paris, New York, San Francisco, and Bogota. It is part of a world-wide renaissance of cities built for people.

The Ward Challenge

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JTQGG3C

Calgary's Mayoral Parade

Calgary's New Mayor on a Bike?

Come watch the Calgary Mayoral candidates in an alternative transportation parade at 11:30. Maybe it'll be a folding bike, maybe a wheelchair, maybe inline skates! The honorary queen of the parade will be Olympian mulit-medalist Kristina Groves!

What's going on around the world?

Paris Pedestrian Mall on the Seine

The Seine’s banks become pedestrian malls in the summer and temporary beaches are spread across three spots (Louvre/Pont de Sully, Port de la Gare and Bassin de la Villette). The project attracted more than 3 million visitors last year & is such a fun way to spend your time.

Autobahn Pedestrian Mall
Kudos to the Germans, they used 37-miles of the Autobahn between Duisburg and Dortmund. The result: 3 million people turned out amid fine weather, one million of them with their bicycles

Manhattan Pedestrian
The temporary pedestrian mall created in Times Square in summer 2009 is a Broadway hit, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has green-lighted construction of a permanent plaza.

Hey, it's part of our history.....

Memorial Drive 1973

Have a look at some pictures from the 2009 Bow River Flow.

Similar Events, Worldwide

The Origins: Bogota's Ciclovia
New York: Summer streets
San Francisco's Sunday Streets

The Bow River Flow gets inspiration from similar events around the World, most notably: Bogota's Ciclovia, where these events have been taking place since 1976.

Wikipedia defines "Ciclovia" as: a Spanish term, meaning "bike path," used in Latin America to mean either a permanent designated bicycle route or a temporary event closing of the street to automobiles to allow dominance by other users. Permanent designated bicycle lanes are also known as ciclo-rutas, while streets temporarily closed for that purpose are always called ciclovías.

Some 50,000 people enjoyed the return of New York City's "Summer Streets" program in 2008. These temporary car-free streets are spreading this year to 14 locations across all five boroughs.

From the NYC government website:

This event takes a valuable public space - our City's streets - and opens them up to people to play, walk, bike, and breathe. Summer Streets provides more space for healthy recreation and is a part of NYC's greening initiative by encouraging New Yorkers to use more sustainable forms of transportation.

Modeled on other events from around the world including Bogotá, Colombia's Ciclovia, Paris, France's Paris Plage, and even New York's own Museum Mile, this event will be part bike tour, part block party, a great time for exercise, people watching, and just enjoying summer mornings

San Francisco's Ciclovia-styled events are called "Sunday Streets" and began in 2008.

From the Sunday Streets website:

Sunday Streets creates a safe, fun, car-free place for people to get out and get active in San Francisco neighborhoods. Last year’s two events drew more than 15,000 people each weekend creating huge demand for more. This year, we’ve expanded the event to six Sundays, opening the streets to San Franciscans to explore four different neighborhoods and participate in a wide variety of activities, including: dancing, biking, skating, walking, hula hooping, yoga, and just people watching.

Flickr images from San Francisco's "Sunday Streets"