Mark your calendars: on Sunday, September 27, a stretch of Catalpa Drive in the Collister neighborhood is going car-free. For five hours, from 12-5pm, you’ll find bike rodeos, gutter boat races, skateboarding, live music, and more food trucks than you’ll have stomach for, all happening in the middle of a normal residential street.

This is ​Open Streets Boise​, and it’s back for its third year.

What is Open Streets Boise

Hosted by Boise Bicycle Project, Open Streets Boise transforms a Boise neighborhood into a car-free community space for one day each year. The event moves to a new neighborhood every year. On Sunday, September 27, Catalpa Drive in the Collister neighborhood will be filled with neighbors, families, and kids riding bikes, scooters, skateboards, and rollerskates. There’s live music, food trucks, local vendors, games, and local organizations.

How did they come up with the idea? Well, it’s kind of a collision of two stories.

Open Streets is an evolution of Boise Goathead Fest, which was a celebration of Boise’s bicycle community and an event to bring awareness to the invasive goathead weed. (Read the backstory on Goathead Fest ​here​ – it’s like 5 years old but tells the story.) Long story short, Goathead Fest replaced Tour de Fat, and now Open Streets Boise has replaced Goathead Fest.

The idea around Open Streets borrows from a global movement. Open streets events, sometimes called Ciclovías, started in Bogotá, Colombia, in the 1970s and have since spread to cities like New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The concept is simple: close a road, open it up to people, bring in fun community organizations, and let a neighborhood show off what it’s got.

Open Streets Boise had its first go in 2024 on Latah Street on the Bench, closing the road from the cemetery to Cassia Park. In 2025, it moved to West Boise, taking over a mile of Ustick Road. This year, it’s Collister’s turn.

“Hosting Open Streets Boise alongside the Collister Neighborhood offers so many incredible possibilities – the neighborhood’s rich business center, its diverse and family friendly make up, and its historic cultural contributions to Boise’s identity. We’re excited to amplify the neighborhood’s unique character, as well as to continue centering the value that walkable, bikeable, and livable communities bring to our city and how we can act together to promote them,” said Devin McComas, Boise Bicycle Project’s executive director.

What’s happening this year

This year’s route runs along W. Catalpa Drive between Collister Drive and W. Hill Road. That stretch will be closed to vehicle traffic from 8am-7pm on September 27. The event itself runs 12-5pm.

Along the route, you’ll find all kinds of things to do. It’s like a street carnival. The street is broken into three hubs:

West Hub

The West Hub has a lot going on. Catalpa Park is where you’ll find the Event Stage, with DJs from KRBX Radio Boise spinning tunes from 12-5pm, the Beer Garden, and water stations. You can also join Girls on the Run for the “Happy Pace Run” at 12:30pm, starting from the park. It’s a 1.5-mile family-friendly run and it’s free and open to everyone. YogaSix will have free yoga classes in Catalpa Park from 1-1:30pm and 1:30-2pm.

Over at Collister Elementary, the Bike Rodeo is happening all day (12-5pm). It’s in the parking lot with support from Safe Routes to School. Kids who complete the course and need a bicycle of their own can receive a “golden ticket” for a free bicycle from the Boise Bicycle Project, redeemable during regular business hours, first-come first-served.

Gutter Boat Races with Collister NA: Bring kids over to the gutter boat races with Collister Neighborhood Association! Design a sail to attach to a miniature boat, and then race it down the gutters! These races will be held in the West Hub.

The West Hub will also have food trucks, water stations, and bathrooms.

Central Hub

The Central Hub is where you’ll find the festival Info Booth, First Aid, Bathrooms, and the entrance to Edwards Greenhouse, where you can check out the flower cutting garden and pick flower bouquets and all the other goodies at the greenhouse.

East Hub

Here you’ll find the BBP Tent where you can learn more about Boise Bicycle Project. The Boise Skateboard Association’s Skate Jam is happening from 2-3:30pm and it’s open to the public. Colossal Collective’s Street Puppet will be roaming around. Performances will also happen right in the street from Starbelly Dance, Mariachi Cantares de Mexico, and Verdant Crossfit’s Throwdown. You’ll find more food trucks and bathrooms here too.

How to get there

The whole point of the festival is to experience Boise car-free, so consider biking, scootering, walking, or riding the bus.

If you’re biking, consider joining one of BBP’s bike buses! A “bike bus” is basically a group of people riding bikes together along a set route. All of these rides will be at a fun, social, party pace. They are expecting hundreds of bicyclists to join in!

Here are the different bike buses you can join:

Boise Co-op Market North End

• Meetup time: 10:45am & FREE cold brew!
• Departure time: 11:15am
• Total mileage: 4 miles

Boise Bicycle Project

• Meetup time: 10:45am
• Departure time: 11:10am
• Total mileage: 4.8 miles

Garden City Library

• Meetup time: 10:50am
• Departure time: 11:20am
• Total mileage: 3.5 miles

Family Ride: Sunset Park

• Meetup time: 11:30am
• Departure time: 11:50am
• Total mileage: 1.5 miles

MTB Ride: Polecat Loop Trail

• Meetup time: 11am at Collister Polecat Trailhead
• Departure time: 11am
• Total mileage: 8 miles (including MTB route)
• High Desert Hustle will be leading

Important note: the Boise Co-op Market, Boise Bicycle Project, and Garden City Library bike buses cross busy roads. If you have kids, make sure they’re in a bike trailer, child carrier, or on a trailer bike, or that they’re 10 or older with confident riding skills. If this isn’t your setup, please join the Sunset Park family bike bus.

More than a fun Sunday

It’s easy to treat this as just a neighborhood block party, but there’s intention behind it. Every time Open Streets Boise lands in a new neighborhood, it’s a real-life experiment in what our neighborhoods would look like if they weren’t built so much around cars. It also gives the city and neighborhood association real data and community feedback about where sidewalks, bike lanes, or safer crossings are needed. It’s advocacy disguised as a party.

This also gives a neighborhood a reason to spend an afternoon outside, talking to their neighbors and watching kids play in the middle of a street that’s usually off limits. Also, it’s just fun! And I think we should do more fun things.

The details

When: Sunday, September 27, 2026, 12-5pm (street closed 8am-7pm)

Where: W. Catalpa Drive, between Collister Drive and W. Hill Road

Cost: Free, no registration required

Parking: Edwards Greenhouse is offering parking for Collister residents during the closure; general attendees should plan to park nearby and walk or bike in

Want to get involved? BBP still needs volunteers to tear down on Sunday. ​Sign up here​.

More info: ​boisebicycleproject.org/open-streets-boise​

Whether you live in Collister or you’re coming from across town, check it out. Grab your bike, bring the kids, and go see what a part of your city looks like without cars in the way.

Thanks for reading!

With love from Boise,

Marissa

This story is sponsored by Boise Bicycle Project.

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