The City of Boston’s Open Streets event series closed out its 2025 schedule with a vibrant street festival through the heart of Jamaica Plain, featuring a diverse array of businesses and organizations along 1.4 miles of Centre Street that were closed off to cars from 10:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for pedestrians to enjoy.
The Open Streets program, started in 2022 by Mayor Michelle Wu, hosts a monthly street festival each month from July to November, rotating between various neighborhoods, such as Roxbury, Hyde Park and Dorchester. The exact schedule of events depends on the year, with events being scaled back this year.
In each neighborhood, a significant portion of a major road through a community, usually ranging fromto a half mile to 1.5 miles, is closed down to vehicular traffic through the middle of a Sunday. In its place, pedestrians are allowed to freely roam the street, check out a variety of businesses, restaurants, community organizations and informational tables from the City of Boston departments.
The 500 groups, small businesses and organizations at the Jamaica Plain edition of the festival ran the full spectrum of what Boston has to offer: with businesses from Stop & Shop to local artisans, City of Boston departments to a bevy of socialist and communist political organizations to community organizations, even the Museum of Science had a table. Amongst the highlights was a fashion show, which took place near Pond Street towards the south end of the route.
There were also a variety of food and music options along the route, with restaurants open for business and food trucks there for the festival. Music ranged from people simply playing music from a speaker to DJs and live bands, ranging from rap to JP Honk!, a community brass band.
Community activists and organizations also used the event as an opportunity to promote their causes, ranging from ballot petitions for rent control, as the Boston chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America was, to promoting increased transportation options in Boston, as Boston Cyclists Union and TransitMatters were. Boston City Council members Benjamin Weber and Henry Santana were even present to talk to the community ahead of the municipal elections Nov. 4.
“Events where we’re able to have community, where we’re able to have our young people, our little ones, our families, our seniors, come and enjoy the streets, be able to support small businesses and community. I think that creates safer communities and I’m a big fan of this initiative and we should look [at] how to expand it to all of our neighborhoods here in the City of Boston,” said Santana.
The festival indeed drew a wide crowd, with thousands visiting the event throughout the day, and most coming from the neighborhood in which the event was held.
“A lot of people come here just for the food,” one community organization representative said.
The initiative is likely to return in 2026, with events likely starting in May or June as they have in years past. The yearly schedule is typically announced the month prior to the first event.
