King Street East goes car-free for Open Streets June 18

For the first time, busy King Street East which cuts through the heart of Hamilton's core, will become car-free for Open Streets festival.

The long-planned urban park experiment to close all four lanes of the crash-prone urban street to vehicles between Gage and Gore parks was approved by city council for summer 2022, but pushed over to this year.

Between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. June 18, residents will be able to walk, run, skip, hop or roll up and down King Street, with activity hubs set up along the way.

The 3.6 kilometre stretch of roadway will be closed to vehicle traffic from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Along the route, locals can stop various hubs for family friendly activities, including the Gage hub at Bernie Morelli rec centre, for a scavenger hunt, native plant giveaway, a roller derby demo, and more.

Athletes will enjoy the Wentworth hub, featuring wheelchair basketball chairs to try, a Pickleball court and activities with Forge FC and Ticats.

There will be pirates and giant games at the John Street hub, with music in Gore Park from noon to 2 p.m.

The festival will also include LRT outreach, cycling activities - including bike rodeo - and plenty of offerings from local businesses along the way.

Sunday's event marks over a decade of Open Streets festivals starting on James Street North and later along Barton Street East.

Find out more about event activities, road closures and detours at hamilton.ca/openstreets.

Jeremy Kemeny is a Hamilton-based web editor at The Spectator. Reach him via email: jkemeny@thespec.com