From 11 am to 4 pm this Sunday, May 7, about three miles of streets in East Portland will be (mostly) closed to cars and opened up to people biking, walking, and rolling. That’s right, Sunday Parkways is back—here’s what to look forward to at this weekend’s event. 

The upcoming Sunday Parkways route encompasses three parks, all east of 102nd Ave: Gateway Discovery Park, Ventura Park, and Lincoln Park, each of which have their own program for the afternoon. There will be live music and performances at each park from groups like Hip Hop Soulsation Academy and Circus Cascadia, plus a roller skate party hosted by Rose City Rollers with free skate rental. There will also be food vendors throughout the route, and local bike shops offering free bike repair at every park. 

If you want to rent a Biketown electric bike, you can do it for free if your ride is starting or ending at the event, and you can also snag a Lime scooter ride in East Portland for half price.

This is the first of three Sunday Parkways events to take place this summer, and the start of a new approach to the program from the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT). Since bringing back the program in-person after a hiatus during the pandemic, PBOT has decided to take a slightly different approach. The agency will focus more on areas like east Portland that have lacked the kind of bike and pedestrian amenities found in neighborhoods closer to the Willamette River. 

While the East Portland Sunday Parkways is welcome to people from across the city, it’s especially intended as an opportunity for people who live east of I-205 to check out the new active transportation infrastructure in their neighborhoods. But it’s also a chance for residents from all over Portland to visit some of the parks and businesses in this part of the city that they might not otherwise know about. 

PBOT notes that drivers on nearby arterial streets should drive slowly and expect delays during the event.

Find out more about the East Portland Sunday Parkways event and other upcoming Sunday Parkways events in June and September at PBOT’s website.