Looking back at Cyclovia, Fall 2023
Our Cyclovia event on October 29, 2023 was an example of what this biannual Open Streets event has come to embody for the Tucson community. The route connected Downtown to the Amphi Neighborhood, looping in many wonderful partners and attractions in between.
We loved celebrating Cyclovia’s 20th route with beautiful weather, creative costumes, neighborhood block parties, live music and playful movement—not to mention many hugs and smiles.
Downtown Businesses and Historic Y Partners
Living Streets Alliance joined 6th Avenue businesses, Historic Fourth Ave Coalition and other local partners in hosting a lively hub downtown. Some of the many local arts, education, and social and environmental justice organizations who work from the Historic Y Building pulled together a Hub on University Boulevard full of experiential education opportunities, playful activities and artistic expression—including visits from The Rogue Theater’s giant puppets! With the LSA office at 6th & 6th, we were thrilled to collaborate with our neighbors and create something fun and inviting for all.
Vibrant Neighborhoods: Amphi, Keeling, and more
Working closely with the neighborhoods who host Cyclovia is one of the most enriching and exciting parts of these events.
This year, LSA worked with organizers, individuals and community groups in the Amphi neighborhood to host several outreach events leading up to October 29th. They were designed through community input in order to reflect the needs and desires of neighbors. In Amphi—a vibrant neighborhood where around 32 different languages are spoken— preparation for Cyclovia meant bringing together vital medical, economic, cultural, legal, educational, and other basic resources at a Resource Fair in September, getting the word out through door-knocking and personal networks, organizing a clean-up day, providing bike repair at the local library and hiring local community ambassadors to report on neighborhood needs and interests. We loved seeing residents from a nearby apartment complex and the Tucson Tenant’s Union throw a mini block party with free food, cake and a piñata in the middle of Cyclovia—right across from the Literacy Connects Hub, where local artists played music, families received free books, and neighbors had space to connect.
Neighbors from Keeling, just south of Amphi, put together a sweet community Hub with homemade banners, free trees, lawn games, bike decorating and more. Big thanks to these and other host neighborhoods, including Sugar Hill, Feldmans and West University, who provided a welcoming space for Cyclovians.
Music & Art thrive at Cyclovia
This Fall’s lineup of artists was a wonderfully diverse reflection of the creativity, style, and energy of Tucson’s music scene.
Local funk legend OG Jacki Blu—who also serves as Vice President of the Sugar Hill Neighborhood Association—curated a lineup of majority Black artists to grace the Mansfield Park Stage in the historic Sugar Hill Neighborhood. In addition to Jacki’s performance, Lion Brimstone, Adrian Simone, Major 1, and Don "Nod" Nottingham delivered genre-spanning shows all day. In this video interview with LSA staff for ‘Cyclovia Stories’, Jacki describes his introduction to music, memories he cherishes of Sugar Hill and growing up in the desert, as well as the struggles for equality and using music as a tool to fight for "what's right."
The Amphi Hub was grooving all day thanks to DJ Celina (@slangincuts3rdgen), DJ TKNOGNGSTR, DJ GooseWoods, and friends. We first met Celina—an award-winning barber with a shop just down the street—when they were providing free haircuts to their neighborhood community at the Amphi Resource Fair. In the middle of the day, the King-Doumbya Drumming and Dance crew got everyone moving with African percussion and lots of joyful dancing.
We we lucky enough to host DJ Shorty, a longtime resident spinner at IBT’s and premiere Tucson Pride DJ, at the Downtown Hub and Beer Garden. In between Shorty’s grooves, the main attraction was a special performance of Strut: a A Drag musical performance featuring local Drag and Trans artists, headed up by Monty Manicure.
And of course, the entire route was peppered with music from talented community groups like Tucson Ukulele Uprising, Accordion Kids, Slippery Slope, and Monsoon Seed Choir. Each and every musical act offered a slice of Tucson’s charisma, uniqueness and talent.
By the numbers
Results from the Fall 2023 Cyclovia Census provide insight into the event’s impact
Cyclovia brought around 45,000 people out from all over Tucson; almost a third of them joined for the first time!
Over 80 grassroots, nonprofit, and community groups were given a platform to interact with community during Cyclovia.
Over half of all Cyclovia attendees said they are more likely to walk or bike for transportation in the future after having participated. Two-thirds of them said they were inspired by seeing other people do it on the route.
75% of participants discovered a new business or food truck during Cyclovia
More than 60 bikes were repaired and 115 helmets were distributed for free! Plus, Tugo bikes were rented for free all day, and many attendees received vaccines and health screenings.
Over 100 incredible volunteers put in 500+ hours to make the event happen! Census volunteers collected 220 surveys from participants.
89% of attendees were physically active for at least two hours.
In advance of Cyclovia in October, LSA hosted several events with route neighborhoods, including a Resource Fair in the Amphi Neighborhood and volunteer clean-up days in Keeling, Amphi, and Feldmans! Organizers attended over 20 meetings with different neighborhoods, groups and institutions —and visited dozens of businesses—as part of outreach.
Two-thirds of participants walked, biked or took transit to arrive at the event — making Cyclovia a car-free day for around 30,000 people!
Moving forward with gratitude and curiosity
Cyclovia is a one-day example of how a community can envision public space differently. We know paradigm shifts are possible through creativity and collaboration; and that collaboration is not simply a means to an end, but integral to building the shared power structures required for challenging mainstream decision-making and built environments.
LSA staff, Board and volunteers are so grateful for the community partners on this and every Cyclovia, who continue to teach us about what it means to engage their individual communities and build a broad and joyful movement for better streets for everyone. We are taking learnings from this route’s challenges and working towards improvement of engagement strategies, with a goal of ensuring that everyone near the Cyclovia route knows about the event and feels invited.
We'd love your feedback and involvement in the Open Streets movement in Tucson. Get in touch if you feel inspired to help make the next Cyclovia events even better.
