A new Stirling festival will give residents the chance to experience street life in a completely different way by creating a traffic-free environment in the city centre.
Over the weekend of September 10-11, Stirling Council and Go Forth Stirling are staging a street festival as part of the worldwide Open Streets movement.
They say residents and visitors will be able to experience a “unique traffic-free environment, offering quieter, more people-focused places, where the city’s shops, cafes, restaurants and cultural attractions can be enjoyed without the impact of traffic congestion and air pollution”.
The festival, which can be accessed by walking, cycling or public transport, will include music and arts performances, family activities and opportunities for businesses to make use of the increased space to encourage footfall into their premises.
The festival is scheduled to be the first in a programme of Open Street Days in Stirling city centre over the coming years, with the inaugural festival part of events scheduled to mark Stirling’s 20th year as a city.
Stirling Council leader Councillor Chris Kane, said: “We are wholeheartedly committed to enhancing Stirling’s credentials as an accessible, sustainable and people-friendly city.
“This festival will give residents and visitors the opportunity to experience street life in a completely different way by closing down some of the city centre’s busiest streets to traffic to make it easier for them to walk and wheel through the town centre and access local shops.
“This is another important step towards our aim of creating a city centre which is easily navigable for all pedestrians.
“Alongside Walk, Cycle, Live Stirling, this street festival will help deliver an increase in city centre footfall, accessible recreation space and levels of active travel, leading to healthier and more active communities.”
Project director at Go Forth Stirling, Danielle McRorie-Smith said: “The Open Streets programme offers a great opportunity for our excellent businesses to showcase all that they have to offer and what is best about their neighbourhoods.
“One of the defining features of Open Streets is that they do not feature out-of-area vending, which is often a feature of other outdoor events, so this is a great opportunity for local businesses to be innovative and attract new customers by engaging with the wide variety of events on offer.”
Free activities will run from 10am-4pm and will include: come and try health and fitness demonstrations; live music; farmers market; arts and cultural activity; street performers/dance displays/face painting.
A free park and ride service will be on offer from both Castleview on both the Saturday and Sunday, as well as Springkerse on the Saturday.
The following streets will be closed during the festival: Murray Place, Station Road, Friars Street, King Street and Port Street. Parking bays in Port Street will also be suspended.
Parking restrictions on these streets will be in place from 7pm on Friday September 9 until 7pm on Sunday September 11. Road closures will be in place from 5am on Saturday ,September 10 until 7pm on Sunday, September 11.
