Thousands exercise rights to city streets
September,” he said, sitting on his bright blue chopper-style custom bike on Penn Avenue in the Strip District.
Another biker, Vince Butts, of Homewood, said he was enjoying the day of cycling with his wife, Lisa.
“It’s nice to get all the bikers out,” Mr. Butts said. “How often would people come Downtown otherwise?”
While biking was a major activity Sunday,non-bikers still had plenty to do.
Seven Springs Mountain Resort offered kids snowboarding lessons at Penn Avenue and 30th Street; a “boxing boot camp” was located a few blocks down Penn Avenue in the Strip; and Pittsburgh Sword Fighters, a Crafton-based martial arts school, organized sword-fighting demos at Penn Avenue and 32nd Street.
“It’s an awesome event,” said Justin Clawson, director of marketing at Pittsburgh Sword Fighters. “Where else are you going to be able to swordfight on the street?”
The YMCA ran yoga, Zumba and other fitness classes at several “hubs” between Market Square and Lawrenceville. And health businesses located along the route, like Lawrenceville-based Pittsburgh Fitness Project, moved their classes outside.
Karen Heuchert of Crafton, who was planning to attend two hours of Zumba at Market Square, said she loves OpenStreets.
“It’s so nice to see so many people attend from all across the city,” she said.
Last year, 90,000 people participated across all three events, up from 60,000 the year before, Ms. Shewczyk said. Sunday’s event was the largest ever, with 36,000 attendees.
The next OpenStreets day — and the last of 2018 — will be held on July 28. It will feature a new route, running through five neighborhoods in the East End, which will be the longest one yet, at 4½ miles.