CicLAvia Returns Here This Weekend

By Lynne Bronstein

Observer Reporter

Get ready with your bikes-or your feet-CicLAvia is coming back to the Westside this weekend.

"CicLAvia – Culver City Meets Venice Presented by Metro," will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday August 9. As the third CicLAvia event this year, it will offer a variation of the 2013 CicLAvia Westside route, enabling participants to get a better experience of Culver City, among other neighborhoods.

The six-mile route is closed to vehicular (auto) traffic and allows people to bike, skate, skateboard, walk, stroll, or jog along the route-in other words, any non-motorized form of transit is allowed.

There will be four "hubs" along the route, offering CicLAvia information, neighborhood guides, activities flyers, and merchandise, bike parking and bike repair, free water, restrooms and first aid stations.

Each hub also will offer entertainment. Culver City's hub will feature CicLAvia partner Cirque du Soleil's latest show "Kurios-Cabinet of Curiosities" ™, scheduled to debut in Southern California this fall. In the show, participants will be able to make stop-motion videos which will put them on a movie screen.

Other features of the Culver City hub will include a free bicycle safety class for all ages, a kids' bike safety skills class (with a complimentary helmet included), collective painting in the Mobile Mural Lab, free pedi-cab rides between the hub and Culver City Metro station, and a free bike valet. Nearby, the Kirk Douglas Theater will be having an open house and restaurants and art galleries will be showcasing their best.

The other hubs are at Tellefson Park, featuring a CicLAvia "old school" merchandise booth, Mar Vista Farmers Market, with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councilmember Mike Bonin showcasing a pop-up parklet as part of their vision for the Venice Boulevard Great Street, and Venice, with food trucks and music by solar DJs The Sycons.

CicLAvia is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization which promotes public spaces, active transportation and good health through car-free streets. Since 2010, CicLAvia has held 13 open street events and is recognized as being a world leader in transforming streets into temporary urban parks. The events have attracted thousands of participants.

Metro, which partners with CicLAvia, provides funding for the events through its Open Streets program and allocates $2 million annually.

One enthusiastic supporter of CicLAvia is Culver City's own Mehgan Sahli-Wells of the City Council. Shali-Wells suggested the name of this year's event and says of it:

"Ever since CicLAvia debuted in 2010, I dreamed of bringing it to Culver City. Now it's here thanks to the great CicLAvia organizers, our enthusiastic business partners, our stellar staff, my colleagues on the Council - and Metro, which funded this endeavor. This car-free event is the perfect way to open up our streets to the people, and help residents and visitors alike experience the great community of Culver City. Take away cars, and our city becomes a park, a play space, a social hub, a gigantic gym and a party. Restaurants along the route: get ready to do some business - because CicLAvia participants love to eat along the way!

"As I helped in the planning for this event, I was honored to have chosen the name for this edition of CicLAvia 'Culver City Meets Venice.' Joining two unique communities together, we will celebrate the joys of human-powered locomotion: bikes, strollers, skateboards, wheelchairs, scooters and our own two feet."

The final CicLAvia event of 2015 is CicLAvia – Heart of LA on October 18.