People gather as Open Streets returns to Central

After a stretch of days that saw Minneapolis residents breathing some of the planet’s most polluted air, according to a number of monitoring agencies, Saturday, August 2, finally saw the return of comparatively cleaner air.

It was still hazy enough that the Minneapolis Health Department saw fit to pass out N95 face masks at the Open Streets event on Central Avenue in Northeast Minneapolis, the first of four such street gatherings for the city in 2025.

Central Avenue was closed to automobile traffic from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. from 14th Avenue in the south to Lowry Avenue in the north, with music stages positioned at both boundaries and dozens of food stands, information booths, entertainment and hands-on art stations lining both sides of Northeast Minneapolis’ main thoroughfare. Crowds appeared largest at attractions as varied as nail polish making, sidewalk chalk drawing and a Lucha Libre exhibition. A few local politicians, or candidates aspiring for office, glad-handed with passersby.

The Minneapolis Mounted Police were on hand and, from appearances, were functioning as both an event exhibit and a working patrol. Sergeant Woods stated the unit currently has nine horses and makes appearances city-wide, focusing on location assignments of “high crime” and / or “high visibility.”

Audubon Neighborhood Association Executive Director Deborah Brister noted that this was Open Streets’ first stop in Northeast since 2019. She also stressed that, although Audubon was listed as the event’s organizer, the event was actually an act of “collaboration” between numerous neighborhood groups in Northeast Minneapolis, in partnership with the city.

Open Streets events happen in many cities around the United States and internationally and are seen as a way of reimaging the spaces where we normally allow automobiles to dominate. The first such official events in Minneapolis were held in 2011.

The next Open Streets will be on August 17 and will center around the confluence of Cedar and Riverside Avenues. Two more dates in September, on West Broadway and Hennepin Avenue respectively, will round out the summer schedule.