Open streets
Open Streets event may have been off the road, but it works
Father’s Day brings out the big kids at heart in Waterloo
WATERLOO — Sometimes fathers are really just big kids at heart.
One was building an improbably tall Jenga tower. Another was engaged in an oversized game of Battleship. Still more could be found under event tents lending helping hands to young ones as they crafted Lego creations.
The first Open Streets event of the season in Waterloo coincided with Father’s Day on Sunday, bringing a number of families out to the city’s public square for games and activities despite the scorching temperatures.
“It does give you an incentive to plan something a little extra special,” said Zack Makrydakis, as two of his three children, Glory and Angelique, worked at a table strewn with Lego blocks. “It’s a feel good for me, it’s a feel good for the kids.”
A weekend event like this breaks up a hectic lifestyle and gives everyone something to look forward to, said his wife, Stephanie. “We get satisfaction from them being happy.”
At a nearby tent, Jay Bounnoi was watching son Darien, 6, create a Lego car.
“It gets the kids out of the house. It gets them away from technology.” Something like Lego, a timeless children’s tradition, “helps with their minds, helps them be a little more creative,” said Bounnoi.
Waterloo’s Open Streets events will take place once a month through September, with upcoming themes including cosplay and instruments.
Originally a street festival that put people, instead of cars, on King Street, construction closures in recent years moved activities to side streets, parks and trails. With major King Street construction taking a break this year and the length of the busy road open again to closure-weary motorists and business owners, organizers chose not to block King for Open Streets this summer, opting instead to base events in Waterloo Public Square or Waterloo Park.
“The goal is to bring people to the uptown core,” said Brandon Rad, who has handled logistics for Open Streets since the event launched in 2011. “We want to encourage people to say Uptown is open, and it’s an engaging place to be.”
Out in the square, Dean Seeman was delicately removing a block from an impressive Jenga tower under the watchful eye of son Joey, 11.
Visiting from Victoria, B.C., Seeman said it was good to be able to take in this type of event. “It’s nice to have something like this that’s open and freely accessible.”
As he spoke, the Jenga tower wobbled ever so slightly in the hot breeze, the music from a nearby speaker adding an air of foreboding.