PREVIOUS YEARS

 

The Vic Park Car Free Day was inspired by Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá in Colombia, and a speaker at FORM’s PUBLIC symposium in early 2015. The Vic Park Collective was determined to bring the car free movement to Vic Park. We saw our local area burdened with parking problems, speeding cars through the 40km/h zones, and vehicles that seldom give way to pedestrians. Despite medium to high density living, we don’t often bump into each other walking on the street. Perth has great weather and proximity to the Swan River foreshore, yet we rarely get on their bikes to enjoy it.

The Car Free Day's aim is to make Vic Park’s main streets a bustling, welcoming, safe, and playful destination. 

Working in partnership with the Town of Victoria Park and the Vic Park Farmers Markets, the Vic Park Collective held the first car free day event on Kent Street - between Gloucester Street and Albany Highway - on Sunday 18th of September 2016. We organised and activated the street with lots of fun activities, in coordination with the regular Vic Park Farmers Market activities.

People walked, rode their bikes, scooted and rollerbladed to Kent Street. There were loads of happy faces. This event was embraced by the community and, aside from the kind donation of street closure fees by the Town of Victoria Park, it was a free event with a zero budget. People donated their goods, their time, and their skills. We think this was a great demonstration of how the community can come together and make a fun morning happen and we’d love to build on this idea to make the event even better in the future.

Our big picture goal is to make Albany Highway a people-friendly main street, to help Vic Park residence feel confident in reclaiming their streets, and to help provide the highest quality of life to Vic Park residents and guests. 

Thanks to MRC and the Tip Shop at Tamala Park for the furniture donation, Farmtastic for the bouncy castle and petting zoo, and Juici for loading smoothies into the Blenderbike. To the Perth Swing Dancing Academy for bringing dance back to the street, the energetic Jungle Body Fix fitness group, and Pema Yoga for and Tom's Tai Chi for keeping everyone centred and energised. Cheers to the Kensington Police for helping keep us and our goods safe by engraving peoples bikes. Big ups to the Lightning Furies and the Street Roller Hockey League for bringing the attitude, and the Victoria Park Carlisle Bowls Club for keeping everyone refreshed while barefoot. The Vic Park library kept us well educated with their pop-up library.

Special thanks to Debra DeKlerk from the Town of Victoria Park for championing the project through council, and taking leadership and responsibility on the day, couldn’t have done it without you. And full kudos to all the members and volunteers of the Vic Park Collective for donating their time and energy to making this project into the success it was. They are an exceptional group of people, and we invite any members of the community to join any of the VPC’s working groups to help out. With your support, Car Free Day and the Vic Park Collective with thrive into the future.

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​In 2017 we did it again! Check out our blog post for the full story. 

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If you would like to volunteer and help bring our next car free day to life, please contact us at carfreedays@vicparkcollective.com