Los Altos residents with plans to attend this year’s Stride & Ride Festival may want to recheck their summer activities schedule.
The second downtown interactive fitness and health festival, a joint effort by the city of Los Altos Recreation Department and local business owners, was originally slated for June 1 in downtown Parking Plaza 4. According to Los Altos Economic Development Manager Kathy Kleinbaum, organizers recently rescheduled the event for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 27.
Kleinbaum noted that organizers opted to push back the date in order to host it at the city’s soon-to-be makeshift urban park on State Street. As reported in the May 8 Town Crier, the city plans to close one block of State Street – between First and Second streets – in mid-July during First Street streetscape construction and convert it into a temporary public gathering spot, complete with green turf and seating areas.
The city chose to create the public space during the four to six weeks construction crews will need to complete work on the intersection of State and First streets. Construction at the intersection is slated to begin shortly after the annual Arts & Wine Festival in July.
“The primary reason (for the rescheduling) is that we realized this would be a much better venue,” said Kleinbaum, who dubbed the temporary urban park the “State Street Green.”
Kleinbaum added that the venue shift allows organizers to feature additional festival activities. The attractions under consideration include a rock-climbing wall and an inflatable bounce house for children, she said. Plans for various fitness demonstrations and classes and a mini-ramp for skateboarding, provided by State Street merchant Skateworks, remain intact.
Kleinbaum noted that festival organizers are encouraging additional merchants to join the 20 vendors already committed to sponsoring the midsummer event.
