MAIN STREET SUNDAYS: Join Jozi’s first car-free Sunday, and celebrate connection

On Sunday, 12 April, Main Street in Marshalltown will transform from a busy business corridor into an inner-city “living room”. Main Street Sundays is Jozi’s first inner-city car-free experiment in which the street will be closed to traffic and open instead to families and residents who are invited to come and walk, cycle, skate and connect in the heart of Jozi.

Hosted by Jozi My Jozi, Young Urbanists South Africa, the Johannesburg Inner City Partnership, the City of Joburg and Open Streets Cape Town, Main Street Sundays is a global movement that has proven, in cities from Bogotá to Cape Town, that when streets prioritise people, communities thrive.

“Come and enjoy a Sunday where Jozi feels like it belongs to the people,” says Mbali Zulu of Jozi My Jozi. “Come and hear the city’s heartbeat without the roar of taxis and buses. Come and see kids and families cycling, skateboarding and roller-skating in the middle of the city. Come and see the street turn into a massive living art canvas.”

Pedestrians and co

For one day, pedestrians, cyclists and skaters will have total right of way, making it a safe, open playground for families. It’s not a commercial event, says Zulu. There’s no rush to get to a certain stage or a performance – it’s essentially about human connection.

From 10am to 5pm, Main Street, from the magistrates’ court all the way to Gandhi Square, will be closed to traffic and divided into different ­activity zones such as mind and body, arts and crafts, children’s playgrounds, cycling and skateboarding, silent reading and funky music.

For kids there is face painting, art, street games, skateboarding, scooter riding and roller-skating. Play Africa will bring a mobile space designed for joyful discovery for kids and families. There will be activities such as upcycled crafting, drawing and collaborative building projects.

Rather than a traditional market, expect small setups from local creatives and street activations such as murals and graffiti from Baz-Art. Sankofa Art Productions will bring tech and soul to the street, with artists doing live sketches and digital portraits. Urban Sketchers Johannesburg will be part of the creative energy too, as a global community of artists who draw on location, capturing the life of the city as they see it.

Books and walking tours

Independent inner-city bookstore Bridge Books will have open-air readings and a storytelling hub – and tours around the Literary District to the Johannesburg City Library and underground booksellers. There will be pop-up street libraries and outdoor reading rooms where comfy seating and quiet zones will be set up, encouraging people to slow down and read in public.

And at the other end of Main Street, hip-hop hero Osmic Menoe will be performing groovy tunes. For art lovers, the fabulous contemporary Asisebenze Art Atelier will be open, as will the Standard Bank Art Gallery, which will give people the opportunity to see its amazing exhibition called Homecoming: The Return of the Johannesburg Art Gallery Collection.

It is an exhibition of 145 masterpieces from the Johannesburg Art Gallery after they went on a two-year international tour through Europe and Asia. The show features a mix of European classical masters and seminal South African artists.

Local restaurants and eateries will be open, including Sadie’s Bistro and the Afro-soul Weed Lovers Market. And the Reef Hotel is a great place to wrap up a day with sundowners in the sky at its Elevate Rooftop Bar on the 15th floor. DM

Main Street Sundays is from 10am to 5pm. Register here.

Bridget Hilton-Barber is a freelance writer who writes for Jozi My Jozi.

This story first appeared in our weekly DM168 newspaper, available countrywide for R35.