June 17 is the proposed date for the 2012 Comox Valley Car Free Sunday.
This initiative is organized by Imagine Comox Valley and hundreds of enthusiastic community partners, sponsors and volunteers. All activities are proposed to take place in downtown Comox, Cumberland and Courtenay.
The Courtenay route will be the same as last year, with the Comox activities proposed to take place within the already-planned closure for the Comox Cup street hockey tournament. The Cumberland closure will be smaller than last year with exact details to be announced shortly.
Last year’s first Comox Valley Car Free Sunday proved to be an exciting community-building initiative and was a great success. Based on this success, an extended closure is proposed from noon until 6 p.m. This extended timeframe aims to answer the numerous requests from residents, businesses, sponsors and participating organizations and groups, asking for more time in which to enjoy access to the routes with their family, friends, members and customers.
Car Free Sundays are organized all over the world as a way to bring communities together in the roads and streets of our cities, towns and villages.
Roads and streets are a key part of our community infrastructure. Everyone pays for them, but only some people use them on a daily basis.
Car Free Sundays help to demonstrate various alternative uses of this great community resource. This year’s date of June 17 was chosen to coincide with Vancouver’s Car Free Sunday event.
Street closures will be limited and residents and businesses will be given alternative routes to work with. Organizers are committed to ensuring the community has safe alternate routes, professional signage, clear communication about the event and trained volunteers who can assist people on the day of the event.
In 2011, the first Comox Valley Car Free Sunday inspired live music, chalk art, tango in the streets, stilt walkers, community booths, skateboard demos, garage sales, store specials, roller derby demos, restaurant deals and many other initiatives.
Organizers are very excited to see what the people from the Valley come up with this year.
An event like Car Free Sunday requires community support and engagement, and organizers welcome feedback and ideas about how to build on past successes. If you want to be a part of Car Free Sunday 2012, you can get involved by:
● Publicly supporting the idea, whether it be through conversations with friends or posts on your favourite social media channel(s);
● Signing up to be a sponsor, vendor or volunteer, all of which can be done by sending an e-mail to imaginecomoxvalley@gmail.com;
● Signing up by e-mail to be an entertainment or activity provider or an event leader (note that organizers welcome new ideas and will do their best to incorporate any reasonable requests);
● Participating in the event June 17 and encouraging others to do so, too.
Organizers are looking forward to working with their community on the 2012 annual Comox Valley Car Free Sunday and would be happy to provide anyone interested with additional information or answer any questions.
They can be reached via e-mail at imaginecomoxvalley@gmail.com. Details are at http://imaginecomoxvalley.ca and at www.facebook.com/events/201429926628716. Imagine Comox Valley is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/198030611797.
— Imagine Comox Valley