We are all invited to the first Bishy Road street party.

Bishopthorpe Road will be open for business late into the evening on Thursday July 1st for the first ever Bishyroad Street Party – and all are invited!

The event will see the street opened to pedestrians for the evening from 6:30pm until 9:30pm, with stalls, special offers, al fresco eating and drinking, and entertainments laid on. The event is being organised in conjunction with the Towards Carfree Cities Conference taking place in York the same week.

Andy Shrimpton, manager of the Cycle Heaven bike shop and founder of the website bishyroad.net, is one of the traders behind the plan. He says, “Bishopthorpe Road is a great example of neighbourhood shopping street, which is fast becoming a rare thing. There is a great sense of community in the area, and the local traders are at the heart of that. This event is about giving that community a space, free of traffic for one evening. But we hope this street party will be the first of many!”

Most of the shops will be open late, and many will have special offers on. As well as stalls from community groups, there will be a barbeque from M & K butchers and the Pig and Pastry, hand made ice cream from The Good Food Shop, a raffle, a flower arranging workshop, and circus skills workshops and balloon modelling from Professor Fiddlesticks. Pextons Hardware will be doing DIY demos and tutorials.

Music will be provided by world music choir Chechelele, Saxofun, Caramba, the Golden Rail Brass Band and Blackbeard’s Tea Party.

Get Cycling will be along with fun bikes for kids. There will be a treasure hunt in the street, discounted hair and beauty treatments, and 10% off selected items at Cycle Heaven. Cycle Heaven will also be doing bike maintenance demonstrations.

Richard Lane, one of the organisers of the Towards Carfree Cities gathering said, “We’re really glad to have been involved with this event. Many neighbourhood and village centres have been killed off by traffic, which makes a street unpleasant, noisy and dangerous. By removing the cars we can reclaim space for the community, if only for a short while.”  The goal of the Towards Carfree Cities conference series is to bring together people from around the world who are promoting practical alternatives to car dependence - walking, cycling and public transport, and ultimately the transformation of cities, towns and villages into human-scaled environments rich in public space and community life. The full programme is available on the conference website at http://www.worldcarfree.net/conference/ .  International delegates from the Conference will be attending the street party. Attendance is free and everyone is invited; but be warned: the event takes place weather permitting!

During the event,traffic, will be diverted via Nunnery Lane, Blossom Street and Scarcroft Road. Access to Vine St and Darnborough Street for residents will be unaffected.

See you there!