When you’re a kid, summer is a season of expectation and delight. When school ends in spring, those summer months stretch out ahead of us with visions of swimming pools, beach trips, and baseball games. There’s that moment in August when you realize that school is starting soon, and expectation turns to despair. Where did all the days go?

Parents often feel a dose of pressure around that same time: “Did we take advantage of the summer? Were we able to squeeze in all the activities we looked forward to?” 

If you find yourself struggling with that last question, the Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation Department has just the thing to catch up on summer’s magic before it’s gone.

Open Streets returns to Fort Wayne from noon-4 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 20. The sixth annual event will shut down traffic on more than 20 blocks of Calhoun Street from The Landing to Pontiac Street, giving families a chance to play more than 100 games and activities in the street for an afternoon.

Music, parking abound

This isn’t a new concept. 

The first Open Streets was held more than 20 years ago in Bogota, Columbia. There are now more than 100 cities around the world, including Fort Wayne, that close their streets for a festival like this. It’s a chance to see downtown in a whole different light. Casually strolling down the busy streets you’ll drive on next week makes you positively giddy.

This year’s theme is Beat of the Street. The parks department has teamed up with 95.7 FM to provide music via a dedicated sound system throughout the 1.5-mile corridor. You can catch Skylar Joseph at noon, Middle Names at 1 p.m., thinning. at 2:30 p.m., and The Namby Pamby at 3:30 p.m. between Baker and Creighton streets.

“It’s such a big space that it can get quiet in places,” program manager Neil Miller said. “This year we wanted to bring the energy of music to the entire event.” 

Another welcome new feature is the addition of a free CTN shuttle bus with an architectural tour provided by ARCH. Those shuttles will be hop-on/hop-off style and provide a welcome blast of air conditioning while transporting passengers. 

The buses run the length of the event but not to the festival parking area at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge.

Parking is always a topic, especially for out-of-towners. There’s a lot of street parking downtown, and it’s free on Sundays. Garages abound downtown for a small fee. The festival lot at 4th Street by the MLK bridge is open for free parking, but be prepared for a pretty good walk to get to the event from there. 

Pro Tip: If you have a responsible teenage driver in your group, assign them to drop off the rest of the gang and take the vehicle to the festival parking. Teenagers love an excuse to get away from the family for a few minutes, even if they have to walk a few blocks.

What to expect

With such a big space, what kind of activities should a visitor expect? 

Enough to keep everyone motivated to go to the next cool thing. Enough for everyone in the family to find something interesting. Enough to wear those kids out and send them home with a happy summer memory. Check out a fire engine. Meet exotic birds. Learn to dance. Watch people who actually know how to dance. Paint your face. Hop on a tractor ride. Check out electric vehicles. Challenge yourself and others on an air bike. 

Remember that time early this summer when you rented a kayak and couldn’t really figure it out? Open Streets will have basic kayak paddling lessons. Remember that time you watched curling in the Olympics and thought, “Wow, that looks cool,” then forgot all about it? Open Streets will have floor curling. Remember that time you tried a new sport and wished you had stretched better first? Open Streets will have yoga at 1 p.m. in Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory.

What else? Live music by Williams Street throughout the event. A Lego derby. Tabletop games. Plinko. Cornhole. Water activities. Several of the city departments will be showing off their specialized vehicles. Ever wonder how a street sweeper works? Now you can find out.

Must-see event

 These Open Streets events have a fan base. There are people who travel all over to check out these community events. There will be people traveling to ours. It’s the only event of its kind in northeast Indiana. It’s only four hours long, but it lets locals see their hometown in a whole new light while showing our visitors what kind of place we are.

Summers always seem shorter after they’re over. Fun in the sun goes by so fast. The way to stretch it out is to fill that time with as much variety as possible. With more than 100 events at a scale sure to wear out even the most energetic little one, Open Streets is just the thing to load up the memory banks.