Open Streets @ the Innerbelt
Category: Event Calendar
Date and Time for this Past Event
- Saturday, Oct 1, 2022 12 - 4 p.m.
Details
Open Streets @the Innerbelt
Free games + music + food + drinks
Reconnecting Our Community is a community-engaged initiative to begin to reckon with the Innerbelt’s past and imagine a healed future.
What if the Innerbelt was a park? What if it was a place to see art that honored the past and imagined a vibrant and inclusive future?
Open Streets @ the Innerbelt is a collaboration between Reconnecting Our Community and the City of Akron Recreation and Parks to turn the Innerbelt into a park for a day. Join us for a few hours of Play + Art, conversations that honor the area’s rich cultural history, and brainstorming of ideas for the site’s transformation.
The Innerbelt displaced a vibrant and bustling Black neighborhood. Interviews with former residents feature stories that reveal some sense of that rich life from the jazz and cultural history, neighborhood-wide four-square games, and a beloved Custard Stand. Now there’s an effort to transform part of highway. As we think about what could be next, a park is one of the ideas under consideration.
Event Activities
- Soul Food Cook-off featuring local Akron restaurants
- Custard Stand
- DJ + Dance Floor
- Art Making
- Games
- Bike Riding (Bikes will be available for use)
- Displays About the Neighborhood's History
- Conversations About What's Next for the Innerbelt
Getting There
The Innerbelt will be accessible via shuttles from the Wills Lot (entrance on Wills Ave. near Locust St). Shuttles will leave and return every 20 minutes from 12 pm - 4 pm
Biking
The Innerbelt will be open for bike access. Enter via the Rand Ave. ramp.
Parking
FREE car and bike parking will be available at the Wills Lot. Handicap parking available.
