(See video highlights of Phil McGraw above and more photos below)
As one of eight locations across the Twin Cities, Open Streets: West Broadway is a new location on the map this year. On September 10, an area that is often neglected economically, became the center of attention. The event started at Lyndale Avenue and made a car-free stretch east to Penn Avenue along the West Broadway corridor.
The purpose of the event is to promote walking, biking, running and skating in the community, giving residents the opportunity to explore the neighborhood while encouraging healthy living. Throughout the event, the adults did the Cha-Cha Slide and Cupid Shuffle to music provided by Chaz Millionaire from KMOJ. Open Streets brought the community together showing that North Minneapolis can be a place where people can come together, enjoy the neighborhood, and support Black businesses.
Several food vendors were promoting their food establishment by barbecuing for attendees of the event, including Big Brother Almighty BBQ, Soul 2 Go, Xstream Cuisine, Breaking Bread Café & Catering, ShoughNuff Smokehouse, and MADD Meats Catering.
The event also featured spoken word pieces and musical performances by The Hip Hop History & Arts Collective, Pamela Weems, Wenso Ashby, Malik Jones, PeeWee Dread and Marcus Kar among others.
Donnell Johnson, a North Minneapolis resident, brought his granddaughter to the event. “I want to show her the diversity, different foods and people” said Johnson. “This is a time for us to put the fighting and other nonsense on the backburner.”
For more information, visit the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/openstreetsmpls.
Ivan B. Phifer welcomes reader comments to IPhifer@spokesman-recorder.com.
More photos by Phil McGraw below:
