SGV Connect 118: ArroyoFest

Coming soon - Sunday October 29 2023 - ArroyoFest will take place on a portion of the 110 Freeway closed to cars - from South Pasadena to Lincoln Height/Cypress Park

By Damien Newton

2:53 PM PDT on October 5, 2023

This week's SGV Connect breaks our regular mold as Streetsblog L.A. editor Joe Linton conducts both interviews on the past and future of ArroyoFest which returns at the end of this month. On Sunday October 29 a portion of the 110 Freeway - also called the Arroyo Seco Parkway - will be closed to cars and open to runners, cyclists, pedestrians, skaters, and for other human-scale activity. The event will take place on the 110 from South Pasadena to Lincoln Height/Cypress Park, just north of Dodgers Stadium.

First, Linton interviews Robert Gottlieb and Marcus Renner, some of the leaders that brought Southern California the first ArroyoFest back in 2003.

ArroyoFest in 2003, photo by Amanda via Wikipedia

Seven years before the first CicLAvia, ArroyoFest changed the conversation around transportation in the region. While the region hasn't quite seen the seismic change away from cars in the past two decades that some hoped for, the steps towards regional bike networks and an expanded transit system might not have been possible without ArroyoFest.

Linton then moves into an interview with Wes Reutimann with ActiveSGV who has been leading efforts for the upcoming 2023 ArroyoFest. Reutimann goes over the schedule for the day that begins with a 10k run at 7 a.m. After Arroyofest ends at 11 a.m, the open streets festival continues nearby on South Pasadena's Mission Street with entertainment and cultural events planned just off the freeway.

To read a transcript of the interviews, click here.

Pedestrians and cyclists return to the 110 Freeway at this month's ArroyoFest

For more information on ArroyoFest 2023, visit their website.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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