If the rain holds off this weekend, there is something all the New Yorkers reading this should check out on Saturday: Summer Streets. If you’re out of town, or it does rain, don’t worry — you’ll get another shot next the follow two Saturdays, 8/9 and 8/16.

Summer Streets is an event in Manhattan each summer where a long stretch of road is closed to car traffic for the morning, from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m., from the Brooklyn Bridge all the way up to Central Park. The route is almost seven miles long, and if you go to check it out, you can walk, run, bike, scoot, rollerblade, or basically use any non-motorized form of transportation to travel through the city.

I did it two summers ago with my friend and we had a blast. I rode my bike, and we picked up a free roller blade rental for her because the bike rental line was too long. I don’t usually bike in Manhattan — too much of a scaredy-cat — but having the opportunity to do so and not share the road with cars is so much fun! I got to do that when I did the Five Boro ride, and Summer Streets is a great way to get the same experience without having to ride quite so many miles.

It doesn’t hurt that there are rest stops along the way with food, free samples, workshops, crafts, music, a zip line and climbing wall — and all of it is free! Even if you aren’t a cyclist or skater, just walking along a street without cars is a novel experience in the middle of Manhattan, so I highly recommend it!

Has anyone else been to Summer Streets? And more importantly, who wants to check it out with me one Saturday?