Live the Change

“When you open the streets, you open minds,” says Hillary Griffith of Boulder Green Streets, and that’s the thinking behind the Boulder Green Streets Ciclovia, which will close down three miles of Boulder streets to traffic today for six hours of building community and just taking time out to play. The third annual Boulder event, anchored by two major activity centers — at 15th and Pearl streets downtown and the North Boulder Recreation Center, 3170 Broadway — will expand this year in infinite ways, with increased live music, new vendors, a block of makeshift tennis courts, kids’ activities, a fashion show and even an entertainment partnership with the Americas Latino Eco-Festival (see Thursday), which will host Latin dance, music and storytelling. And the entire event is free, Griffith points out; even Boulder’s B-cycle fleet will be free during the event, for cyclists who want an easy ride in.

“Especially these days, with all the time we spending sitting in front of computers, driving in our cars, sitting in an office, talking on the phone or sitting on the couch watching TV, this is a way to just put that stuff down and go sit down at the community table,” Griffith notes. “Some people are forgetting how to get together with the community, but I think it’s best to bump off of one another and learn how to talk to one another. That’s where change really pushes from.”

The Ciclovia runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; get a route map and program information at bouldergreenstreets.org, or go to the iTunes store for a free phone app, which will be available just prior to the event.

Sun., Sept. 14, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., 2014