KITCHENER – Get ready to get squared! On Sunday, July 17, King Street will be closed from Civic Square in front of Kitchener City Hall all the way up, past Waterloo’s Public Square, to Central Street, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., in honour of Square2Square – Car-Free Sunday.
Square2Square is an opportunity to walk, bike, rollerblade, skateboard, hop, skip or run from downtown Kitchener to uptown Waterloo. The event promotes healthy, inviting and fun activities to engage both communities, while aiming to protect the local environment.
King Street will be closed in Kitchener from Gaukel to Victoria streets. Three of the four lanes of the main artery between the two cities — two westbound lanes and one eastbound lane — will remain open to traffic between Victoria and Union streets. The on-street fun will pick back up again from Union to Central streets in Waterloo, where visitors will enjoy plenty of family-friendly fun.
Join us downtown! In downtown Kitchener, two stages will be set up in the people-friendly street space, between Gaukel and Victoria streets, featuring musical and multicultural entertainment.
Solo musicians Mike Erb, Tyler Schwende, Alysha Brillinger and Alisha Nauth will perform on the stage at Civic Square. The second stage, located at the CHYM FM building, will celebrate African culture with a steel drum band and full costumes presented by LINK. Also, a South Asian Mela will feature dancers in full costumes.
Street activities include street scrabble, inflatables, an artist market, bike safety workshops, music and sidewalk art, and zumba class demos. The reflecting pool at Kitchener City Hall will be a microcosm of a marina as model boats sail around during the event.
Additional entertainment will be provided by our media partners, Rogers TV, CHYM/570, News/KIXFM, 91.5 The Beat/Dave FM and The Record.
Picture-perfect walking tour If that’s not enough, join City of Kitchener 2011 Artist-in-Residence, Sean M. Puckett, for a walking tour of downtown Kitchener to photographically explore an urban streetscape, fascinating local architecture and the natural splendour of Victoria Park. The workshop is on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Meet in the rotunda on the ground floor at Kitchener City Hall at 10 a.m. The ‘crawl’ begins at 10:15 a.m., rain or shine!
Tempt your tastebuds Also in downtown Kitchener, don’t forget to feed your stomach with barbecued ribs and chicken and craft-brewed beer at the Downtown Kitchener Ribfest & Craft Beer Show in Victoria Park, which runs from Friday 5-10 p.m., Saturday noon-10 p.m. and Sunday noon-6 p.m. There is also live entertainment and a children’s midway.
Admission is free but donations to the Food Bank of Waterloo Region will be accepted at the gate. Please note that due to the nature of the event, anyone under the age of 19 must be accompanied by an adult to be admitted.
All events and activities on Sunday will keep pedestrians busy and active. If you have to drive, please find an alternative route.