Mayor Wu Announces Scaled-Down Open Streets Schedule for 2026
On Thursday, Mayor Michelle Wu’s press office released a schedule for this year’s Open Streets series, which will include four car-free street festivals this summer and fall.
For a few hours on these four dates, the Wu administration will be “opening up our urban infrastructure as a welcoming and exciting space where families can play safely, residents can connect, and local businesses can help bring the neighborhood experience to life,” said Mayor Wu in a press release.
However, as with many other of this administraiton’s signature transportation initiatives, this year’s Open Streets programming has been scaled back from what it had been during the mayor’s early years in office.
In 2024, Boston hosted six Open Streets events across the city, and those events generally spanned a considerably longer distance in each neighborhood than this year’s events.
However, this year’s schedule brings the event for the first time to Roslindale (on a four-block segment of street around Roslindale Square) and also returns the car-free festival to Allston/Brighton after a hiatus last year.
The dates and locations for this year’s events are:
- Jamaica Plain: Sunday, August 2 – Centre Street from Lamartine Street/Jackson Square to Lochstead Ave. near the Mary Curley Elementary School (0.9 miles)
- Mattapan Square: Saturday, Sept. 12 – Blue Hill Ave. from River Street to Babson Street (0.1 miles)
- Allston/Brighton: Sunday, Oct. 4 – Brighton Ave. and Harvard Ave. from Cambridge St. to Commonwealth Ave. (1.0 miles)
- Roslindale Square: Sunday, Oct. 18 – Corinth and Poplar Streets from Belgrade Ave. to Washington Street (0.2 miles)
Notably absent from this week’s announcement was any mention of the extremely popular Open Newbury events, which last year pedestrianized most of Newbury Street in Back Bay for 11 Sundays between July and December.
Late Friday afternoon, after the first edition of this story was published, a city spokesperson told StreetsblogMASS that “Open Newbury Street is still on for this year,” but specific details are still being worked out.
The city is also seeking organizations, potential sponsors, and vendors to participate in this year’s events. Email info@openstreetsboston.org for details.
Additional details for this summer’s schedule have been posted to boston.gov/openstreets.
This story was updated at 9 p.m. on Friday evening to include the city’s response to our inquiry about Open Newbury events for the coming year.
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