On Tuesday morning, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced an expanded program of Open Streets events for 2024 that will bring the popular car-free festivals to Hyde Park for the first time.
"We first launched Open Streets in 2022; the first three neighborhoods to test out the idea were Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, and Dorchester," said Mayor Wu at a press event in the Hyde Park branch of the Boston Public Library on Tuesday morning. "We didn't know how it would go to manage the massive undertaking of closing down major roads for hours and just seeing if anyone would show up, but it turned out to be beyond our wildest imagination of how many people came out."
In 2023, the Open Streets program expanded to East Boston and Allston/Brighton. This year, the city will add a sixth event in Hyde Park.
The dates and locations for this year's events are:
- Dorchester: Sunday, May 5, on Dorchester Ave. between: Ashmont St. to Linden St.
- Roxbury: Saturday, June 22, on Blue Hill Ave. between Warren St. (Grove Hall) and Dudley St.
- Jamaica Plain: Sunday, July 21, on Centre St. from Lamartine St. (Jackson Square) to South St.
- Hyde Park: Sunday, August 11, on River St. from Hyde Park Ave. to Fairmount/Davison St.
- East Boston: Sunday, September 15, on Meridian St. from Maverick to Porter and Bennington St. from Porter to Day Square
- Allston/Brighton: Sunday, October 20, on Harvard Ave. and Brighton Ave. from Cambridge St. to Commonwealth Ave. (Packard's Corner)
Mayor Wu also announced that the hours of each Open Streets event will run longer into the afternoon. Last year's events wrapped by 3:30 p.m.; this year, the events will run from 10:30 a.m. until 5 p.m.
As in years past, Newbury Street in the Back Bay neighborhood is also expected to host multiple open streets events over the course of the summer. But Mayor Wu said that her administration is still working out the dates and details for those events.
"We're still working with the local businesses and other stakeholders to finalize the details but we look forward to announcing those dates in the next few months. That will definitely happen but stay on the lookout for the details," said the Mayor.
Additional details for this summer's schedule have been posted to the city's website, at boston.gov/openstreets.
