Despite U District cancellation, efforts around car-free space on Capitol Hill rolling forward with Seattle Streets Alliance party

E Barbara Bailey Way will host the Seattle Street Alliance’s 15-year anniversary party Saturday

A University District block party seen as inspiration for a new wave of efforts to pedestrianize key areas of the city — including a stretch of Capitol Hill — was supposed to shut down The Ave to car traffic this weekend but was denied permits and canceled.

UW’s The Daily reported on the city’s Special Events Committee denial. “Because this event is happening in the heart of a business district with complex and unique business needs, mitigating anticipated event impacts will be critical for this activity in the public right-of-way,” officials wrote.

The Seattle Times reported here on business pushback on the event including a petition effort led by the owners of Shultzy’s and the Sweet Alchemy ice cream shop which also has a location on Capitol Hill inside Chophouse Row. In the Times report, the business owners make it pretty clear they weren’t opposed to the event as much as the broader effort it represented around eventual permanent pedestrianization.

So far, the new efforts around car-free space on Capitol Hill are still rolling forward.

CHS reported here on the planning for the car-free Ave days and inspiration for renewing the efforts to someday create a pedestrianized area of Capitol Hill that has centered on E Barbara Bailey Way, the short stretch of road between Broadway and 11th Ave E next to Capitol Hill Station, that also hosts the Capitol Hill Farmers Market every Sunday.

The U District cancellation strikes familiar chords. A decade ago, organizers closed a stretch of E Pike to vehicles for three Saturday nights in 2015. While many community members celebrated the pilot and other small tests of the concept in those years, business and property owners voiced concerns about vehicle-carried consumers losing access to retail and restaurants. And according to SDOT’s Pilot Report, 2015’s closures only saw a 9% increase in pedestrian activity. Opposition from the neighborhood’s chamber of commerce is all the city needed to abandon the effort.

In 2026, dreams of a Capitol Hill Superblock are restarted.

Saturday, June 6th, the Seattle Streets Alliance organization — formerly Seattle Neighborhood Greenways — will hold a street party on E Barbara Bailey Way and “a joyful, car-free celebration filled with music, food, art, storytelling, and community.”

Capitol Hill organizers shouldn’t have to worry about any last minute cancellations. E Barbara Bailey Way holds a special “Festival Street” designation — one of six currently established in the city — that streamlines the permitting process and establishes that the streets are intended to host “frequent public events.”

Capitol Hill Community Post | Street Party on Barbara Bailey Way

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