Organizers of Chattanooga’s newest neighborhood-focused event announce the launch of the Chattanooga City Celebration and Ciclovia on Sunday, Oct. 8, a rolling street party that will connect neighborhood block parties from downtown all the way to Glass Street in east Chattanooga. The block parties will be strung out along a 6-mile route with a protected car-free lane to allow everyone to safely enjoy the journey between parties without having to drive.
According to local bicycle and greenways advocate Jim Johnson, who conceived the City Celebration, “The idea is to give Chattanoogans the opportunity to see the city and its communities in a different light.
To see neighborhoods they wouldn’t normally see. To interact with others they normally wouldn’t interact with. And by making this a biking and walking event, we’re encouraging people to get out of their cars and connect with each other in a fun, unique and energizing way.”
The event will run all afternoon on Sunday, Oct. 8, and gradually progress from west to east with each neighborhood party lasting around two hours. Each party will have a unique theme and all of them will have music, food, entertainment and activities. “We really want the event to be interactive, so we’ll have games, dancing, art projects, activities for the kids - anything to get people engaged,” said City Celebration Director Shannon Burke. “We’re working hard to pack each party with as much fun stuff as possible to encourage everyone to explore the whole route. And it’s all free.”
The first party will be at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center in the MLK Neighborhood from noon-2 p.m. and the last party will be on Glass Street in the Boyce Station and Glass Farm neighborhoods from 4-7 p.m. In between, there will be block parties in Highland Park, Ridgedale, and Orchard Knob.
"With considerable backing from private foundations and partners to ensure lively parties, the event promises to be quite a festival," organizers said.
But Ms. Burke says that it’s more than just the parties that make the City Celebration special, “Engaging such a diverse group of people to make this event happen - neighborhood organizations, community activists, non-profit organizations, city leaders - has been a conversation starter to get people talking about these neighborhoods and to get neighbors talking to each other.”
The idea of giving cyclists and pedestrians safe access to public streets for a set period of time started in Bogota, Colombia (hence the Spanish name “ciclovia”) almost 40 years ago when the streets were closed to vehicles on a Sunday in the mid-1970s. Now, Bogota hosts ciclovias every Sunday with up to two million people joining in - cyclists, runners, skateboarders, skaters, walkers, and people of all backgrounds and abilities. Along the route are free aerobics and dance classes, food carts and trucks, and stages in city parks for live entertainment and music. Chattanooga’s version of a ciclovia will follow that model with activities concentrated at each of the neighborhood block parties.
Currently, ciclovias take place in more than 20 countries, including the United States. At last count there were close to 50 ciclovia events (also called “open streets”) in cities like Miami, Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and as close as Nashville, Knoxville, and Atlanta, officials said.
Funding for the City Celebration and Ciclovia is provided by the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation, the Footprint Foundation, the Benwood Foundation, the Lyndhurst Foundation, and the Riverview Foundation, with additional support from numerous community partners. To see a full list of supporters and for more information on becoming a sponsor, participating in the event as a performer or vendor, and volunteering to help with the event, visit www.chattanoogacelebrates.com. You can also follow @CHACelebrates on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.