The first Car-Free Weekend event in the city will kick off with road closures at Telok Ayer Conservation Area during lunchtime this Friday, 26 October. This will be followed by road closures in parts of the Civic District and Telok Ayer Conservation Area on Saturday evening, and the regular Car-Free Sunday SG on Sunday morning. With a multitude of activities spread over three days in these areas, more can enjoy the car-free experience in the heart of our city, both during the day and at night.
Learn about the heritage and enjoy people-friendly streets at Telok Ayer during lunchtime on Friday Telok Ayer Street and Amoy Street will be closed to vehicular traffic from 11am to 3pm this Friday to make the streets more people-friendly. Members of the public can enjoy a pleasant stroll in the area during lunchtime and take the opportunity to better appreciate the heritage and buildings within this historic district. There will be guided tours at the Thian Hock Keng Temple, and the Singapore Yu Huang Gong and Nagore Dargah Indian Muslim Heritage Centre will be open for visits. Selected restaurants and cafés in the area will also be offering special promotions during Car-Free Weekend.
Join us for Parks Festival and Telok Ayer Festival on car-free Saturday evening On Saturday evening, parts of the Civic District (Anderson Bridge and Connaught Drive) and Telok Ayer Conservation Area (Telok Ayer Street, Amoy Street, McCallum Street, Boon Tat Street and Stanley Street) will be closed to traffic, where an exciting line-up of activities await.
Parks Festival, organised by National Parks Board (NParks), will be back with its third edition at Esplanade Park and Empress Lawn. Visitors can look forward to the showcase of NParks Live Out Loud: Battle of the Band finalists and NParks Concert Series in the Park: Rockestra® concert featuring retro and contemporary hits by local acts Enigma, Jive Talkin’, Khim Ng and The MAD Company, SuperSonic and The Countdown. In addition, as a lead-up to Sunday’s activities, the NAC’s Got to Move SPOTLIGHT dance photography and film exhibition will also be open on Empress Lawn throughout Parks Festival.
NParks will be setting up a temporary two-storey pop-up event space at Esplanade Park, named “The Incubator”, which will house more than 80 vendors from Gardeners' Day Out and Artists' Night, showcasing a range of eco-friendly products including gardening products and artisanal ice cream and pastries, as well as a wide variety of potted plants. Foodies can also satisfy their cravings from a variety of food and beverages to be sold at food trucks located on Fullerton Road.
Members of the public are also welcome to take part in the evening workouts at Connaught Drive and Anderson Bridge, presented by Sport Singapore's ActiveSG community.
Visitors can also head over to the Telok Ayer Conservation Area to take in the heritage and culture there, organised as part of Telok Ayer Festival. They can learn how to make Chinese lanterns, enjoy Nanyin performances by Siong Leng Musical Association, visit the national monuments that will be open to visitors, or hop on to trishaw rides to take a trip down memory lane. Visitors can also take part in street games from the past, or catch short films by our home-grown talents portraying life in Singapore.
Burn calories through dancing, workouts and shopping at Farmers’ Market at Car-Free Sunday SG Come Sunday morning, participants can walk, cycle and jog around the 5.5km of closed roads in the Civic District, Central Business District and Telok Ayer Conservation Area.
The public can also look forward to get their groove on and work up a sweat at the one-day dance carnival, Got to Move SPOTLIGHT, as part of the nationwide dance movement organised by the NAC. Participants of all ages can kick off their morning with the Got to Move Dance-Walk, a playful mashup between a danceathon and walkathon, starting at the National Gallery Singapore City Hall steps. Families can also experience a range of interactive dance programmes from stage performances to up-close-and-personal workshops on Empress Lawn.
Those who missed out the fun at the Parks Festival on Saturday evening can look forward to catching up on the festivities, which will continue until 5pm on Sunday with more fun and exciting activities. Visitors can take their pick of fresh locally farmed produce from 12 local farmers at the Farmers’ Market in The Incubator. There will also be a multitude of energising workouts by ActiveSG for the sports enthusiasts and try-outs for those keen to pick up a sport.
Have fun with chalk art, pedal go-karts and pilates in Telok Ayer Participants can also take a leisurely walk or ride to Telok Ayer to rediscover our conservation area. Over there, the young and young at heart can hop onto pedal go-karts and have fun exploring around the car-free streets. They can also participate in a chalk art activity to create colourful hopscotch visual to depict life in the past. This initiative is specially curated by the students from the Singapore Institute of Technology, as they aspire to create a vibrant canvas along the car-free street and inspire everyone to return to a time where things were simpler, and escape from the hustle and bustle of today.
Mr Lim Eng Hwee, Chief Executive Officer of Urban Redevelopment Authority said, “We are pleased to present the very first Car-Free Weekend this month. With the support from our network of partners, we have a full line-up of very interesting programmes over three days, transforming the streets and public spaces in the Civic District and Telok Ayer Conservation Area into vibrant activity hubs. We invite more to come and join us this weekend and have a great time on the car-free streets with their friends and families.”
Please refer to the Annex A [PDF, 352kb], Annex B [PDF, 860kb] and Annex C [PDF, 972kb] for the road closure information, maps and a detailed listing of all activities lined up this weekend. Members of the public are encouraged to take public transport or cycle to the venue. Please refer to Annex D [PDF, 1MB] for cycling access points to the Padang on Sunday.
About Car-Free Sunday SG Car-Free Sunday SG is a community initiative by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), Land Transport Authority (LTA), National Parks Board (NParks), National Arts Council (NAC), Health Promotion Board (HPB), Sport Singapore (SportSG) and Singapore Land Authority (SLA), supported by a host of community and interest groups to promote the car-lite message and enliven the streets. The October car-free weekend is an extension of the Car-Free Sunday SG initiative and the first time the event is expanded to spread over three days.
Get updates on Car-Free Sunday SG activities and details at https://www.facebook.com/carfreesundaysg/. If you are a participant at the event, do share your photos with us. Click here find out more about the event.
The Friends of Car-Free Sunday SG Network, comprising community and corporate partners, was formed to acknowledge their contributions to Car-Free Sunday SG. It is also a platform for more individuals as well as community and corporate groups to join and support the movement to activate the streets and create a vibrant car-lite experience for everyone to enjoy. For more information on how to join the Friends of Car-Free Sunday SG Network, please visit http://ura.sg/carfreesundaysg.
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