Boston’s Best New Tradition: A Review of JP Open Streets
Back for its third year, Open Streets Boston came to Jamaica Plain on July 21st, 2024. Following Dorchester and Roxbury’s Open Streets in May and June respectively, JP was the third Open Streets of the year. Starting in 2022, the summer long series of events closes down the main streets of a Boston neighborhood to open them for “connecting with neighbors and local businesses,” as the City of Boston’s website describes. This hyper communal, excessively positive branding had me worried I’d be attending a corny, kid-focused festival. But I’ve never been happier to be wrong.
In a word, JP Open Streets was bright. All of Centre Street was lined with color, not only from the many clothing and jewelry sellers there, but also from bright pink booths advertising free mammograms, and tables holding a rainbow of syrups to draw kids toward free snow cones. Attendees found their ears just as stimulated as their eyes, as a loud combination of Latin dance music and 2000s pop classics flooded the streets. Kids and adults alike dove into this sound experience and danced their way down Centre; some doing professional level salsa while others adopted my favorite move of jumping up and down to a beat that’s not necessarily there.
The fun continued with non musical events. A headliner (of sorts) was Cate Great, an acrobat who charmed JP’s residents as she made jokes and juggled knives in front of Whole Foods. After watching her incredible finale of a one-handed handstand, audience members could watch local magicians for more entertainment or head to the 360 photo booth to create a show of their own, as me and my self-obsessed screenager friends did. Those accompanied by some of the youngest Bostonians may have also found themselves engaged in the fascinating world of facepaint and giant bubble wands.
Among the playfulness, charitable nonprofits and community outreach organizations sought to use Open Streets as a platform to spread their message — drawing in crowds with free candy and tiny notebooks. Though initially less fun than watching a woman do the splits over swords, I found myself feeling cared for and part of something when I discovered Boston’s LGBTQ+ council, and I’m sure many other attendees felt the same at these booths — whether it be from gaining (or giving) advice on an urban planning project or joining the newsletter for a new senior medical care center.
It’s true that JP Open Streets was an excessively cheerful event and its abundance of color and sugar did make kids seem like the primary demographic. But I was wrong to think that an event like this couldn’t offer someone like me any value. Laughing with my friends in a photo booth felt like the definition of teen girlhood and taking flyers from organizations fighting for women’s or queer rights showed me that I matter to my neighborhood. Community events like this are truly for the community and that means, if you go and look hard enough, you can find something perfect for you.
