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Atlanta Streets Alive returns, encouraging folks to explore the city

Festival shut down a large portion of Peachtree Street NE to encourage cyclists and foot traffic.

ATLANTA — A local street festival sideline for a few years due to the COVID pandemic is finally back in metro Atlanta.

The city's biggest open street festival kicked off Sunday, taking over Peachtree Street between 15th and Mitchell.

Police and city workers worked all morning Sunday putting up temporary blockades to keep car traffic from traveling through, while making the area a safe space for foot traffic and bicycles.

Lyle Baldes, who works for Underground Atlanta, planned the Downtown Hub at Underground Atlanta during the Atlanta Streets Alive, which was planned by ATL DOT.

“The whole point of it from what I understand is to make Peachtree Street feel more like the Beltline once a month to incentivize people all the way from downtown to midtown to walk freely or with their bicycles to interact with local businesses," he explained.

It's the day we've all been looking forward to! 🥳 #AtlantaStreetsAlive is happening from 1-5pm! Many of our Midtown...

Posted by Midtown ATL on Sunday, September 24, 2023

Roark Sweiydstata, as a volunteer, said she's excited by how the event encourages people to ditch their cars and explore the city.

“It will really highlight the opportunities we have in Atlanta to make Atlanta more pedestrian friendly and seeing the benefits that can happen when we close down our streets to cars," she said.

Baldes added that organizers have worked on the event for four months in order to provide something for everyone to enjoy.

“There are memories and new ideas. Of course here we’re gonna have food trucks and all kinds of elements like that as well. There’ll be some musical performances and a lot of stuff up the road," he said.

Organizers previously said they expected roughly 10,000 people to attend.

There are two other dates for the festival this year including October 22 and November 12.

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