Portland shined during Active Transportation Week (May 10 – 16) and provided a wonderful beginning for Bike Month by drawing record attendance to the East Sunday Parkways event.  

Portland came out in record numbers during the City of Portland Sunday Parkways presented by Kaiser Permanente event on Mother’s Day! More than 16,000 traveled down the 7-mile course by walking, biking, skateboarding, skating, dancing, or wheelchair.

As Leah Treat mentioned in a recent interview, “Sunday Parkways offers a fabulous way to explore your own neighborhood or discover a new one, and our network of neighborhood greenways offer low-traffic, low-speed streets for everyday use.”

The day kicked off at Bloomington Park with the Portland World Soccer Tournament girl’s game of Aztecas vs Racers whereas youth from across the world gathered to play a game of soccer in their new home of Portland. This game was followed by the boy’s teams: Eagles vs. IRCO. A Big thanks to Portland Parks & Recreation, Portland World Cup, and Parks for New Portlanders for coming out with the teams!

At Ed Benedict, Zumba and POP beats kept both children and children of all ages dancing. The music and fun continued to Gilbert Heights Park. A park that shone with happy kids and families enjoying the bouncy castle while listening to the sweet melodies of the Mudtown Stompers.

Atop the heads of some of the attendees were festive fish that found their start at the Foster Floodplain Natural Area. The Bureau of Environmental Services celebrated Portland’s support for natural spaces and educated participants specifically on the Foster Floodplain Natural Area. The East Sunday Parkways loop completes with a trip to Glenwood and Lents Park.  Shakespeare was spoken poetically through the muse of Opsfest, while Circus Cascadia created laughter at Glenwood Park. While at Lents Park Kaiser Permanente challenged everyone to celebrate being healthy with their very own KPHealthie photos. All in all everyone had a great day!

We would like to thank all of our sponsors, donors, vendors, volunteers, entertainers, Police and flaggers for making this such a great event. We look forward to our next one on June 21nd in North Portland. To stay up to date you can like us on Facebook and/or follow us on Twitter.

P.S. If you would like to share any stories please do so – we’d love to hear them. And post your favorite East Portland Sunday Parkways photos to our Flickr  account.

East Portland Sunday Parkways appreciates the generous support from the following sponsors: