Open Streets Minneapolis events are designed to help promote environmentally friendly transportation choices such as walking, bicycling and mass transit. They also help promote good public health by encouraging active, healthy lifestyles.

There will be a total of eight Open Streets Minneapolis events on different dates throughout the summer, including upcoming events in Downtown (July 10), East Lake (July 24), Northeast (Aug. 7), Franklin (Aug. 21), West Broadway (Sept. 10), Nicollet (Sept. 18) and University of Minnesota (Oct. 1). The first Open Streets Minneapolis event took place on Lyndale Avenue South six years ago and drew more than 5,000 participants. Since then, the number of events has grown each year and are now attended annually, in total, by tens of thousands of pedestrians, bicyclists, skateboarders and wheelchair users.

Open Streets Minneapolis is a City event hosted by the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition and presented by The Center for Prevention at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. Sponsors of this year’s events include Metro Transit, the University of Minnesota, the Minneapolis Downtown Council, North Memorial Health Care, Meet Minneapolis, Xcel Energy, KFAI Radio, and the AARP Twin Cities. Open Streets Lyndale is locally sponsored by the 36th and Lyndale BP, Penn Cycle & Fitness, and CenterPoint Energy.

For more information on this year’s events, visit the Open Streets Minneapolis website at www.openstreetsmpls.com. To learn more about bicycling in Minneapolis, visit the City’s bicycling website at www.minneapolismn.gov/bicycles.