Final Atlanta Streets Alive of 2025 on deck for this weekend

The last installment of Atlanta’s car-free, open-streets festival season before winter hibernation is coming Sunday. 

Atlanta Streets Alive is closing out its year from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday with a fifth and final event on its long southside route through historic neighborhoods, according to organizers Atlanta Department of Transportation and Propel ATL. (Right now, the forecast calls for a cool, very autumn-like high of 65 on Sunday.)

The 3.4-mile route opens Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard and Georgia Avenue from West End to Grant Park, with Mechanicsville and Summerhill’s commercial district in between. The free, family-friendly events are open to anyone on foot, bikes, scooters, skateboards, or any other mode of transportation except cars. Dogs on leashes are also welcome. 

Tens of thousands of Atlantans and visitors have turned out for Atlanta Streets Alive events throughout the spring and fall season this year, according to organizers. 

Eight venues along Sunday’s route—including The Wren’s Nest, Pearl Center, Shrine of the Black Madonna, and others—will host a variety of local performers, with genres ranging from jazz to R&B, brass bands, and soulful singer-songwriters, per organizers. Music in the Park will close out the route in the West End at 5:30 pm with a parade. (See Atlanta Streets Alive’s Instagram page for a full list of performers and set times.) 

Fifteen years ago, Atlanta Bicycle Coalition (now Propel ATL) originated Streets Alive, inspired by ciclovía events in Bogotá, Colombia and other cities. 

The Atlanta phenomenon began meagerly one day in 2010 when a stretch of Edgewood Avenue opened to bicyclists, skaters, walkers, and anyone else not driving a car. It caught on. 

Over the next decade, organizers say Streets Alive staged 29 events and covered some 83 miles of city streets, drawing an estimated 1.7 million people total. The final pre-hiatus event was held on Peachtree in 2019, before going dormant through pandemic years as logistics for a more frequent Streets Alive were worked out with ATLDOT and other city leaders.

After a four-year hiatus, Streets Alive made a festive return in September 2023, opening Peachtree from south of Underground Atlanta up to 15th Street in Midtown. That's the second route used for events this year. 

Last year, six different Streets Alive events marked a record for a single year, with the previous high mark being four in 2016.

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