Rollerpalooza takes over Boulder street for a day – Boulder Daily Ca…

The wheels of a car have long ruled the streets, but on Sunday in Boulder, Rollerpalooza had the streets back to different kinds of wheels — bikes, roller skates and skateboards.

Rollerpalooza was held on 13th Street between Arapahoe Avenue and Canyon Boulevard. The event was a celebration of all things that roll, along with food, skating workshops, a chance to win a bike lock and a chance to make new friends. Rollerpalooza kicked off Boulder’s Social Streets initiative, in which eight events along 13th Street will give the streets back to the people for more pedestrian, social and community driven events.

Margo Josephs is a consultant at Leadline Project Management, which has partnered with the city to collect input on how the community would like the streets to be used. Josephs said Leadline is collecting public input on the different kinds of uses the street could be used for.

“We will rethink how to use the streets, and more ways for people to gather and enjoy the roads,” Josephs said.

Adrienna Ambraziunas is the founder of SK8D8, a rollerskating organization in Boulder. She said she used to skate all the time as a teenager and young adult but that she stopped skating for 30 years. But she picked up skating again in 2020 and remembered how much joy it brought her. Ambraziunas said she wanted to have a meetup with other skating fans, so she created SK8D8. The organization hosts meetups, classes and various events.

SK8D8 hosted many roller dance and fancy footwork workshops throughout the event, led by Garrett Joyner. Ambraziunas said her organization meets people where they are at, all ages, abilities and walks of life. She believes everyone deserves to skate and that it is never too late to learn.

“It’s a non-intimidating environment, and it’s for everybody. We will do what we can to make you successful and feed successful,” Ambraziunas said.

The workshops had crowds of skaters joining together and learning some footwork and dancing together. Ambraziunas said the event is a great way for people to learn more about the SK8D8 community and make friends.

Joel Davis is the founder and “Chief Joyrider” at JD’s Joyrides, an e-bike touring company in Boulder. He said when he started taking his e-bike to get around more often, he found himself happier and healthier. He noted that it’s easy to learn to ride an e-bike and that the bikes are accessible to many.

“Boulder is a great town of biking,” Davis said.

Davis offers art mural tours, tours to ride up to Chautauqua, among others. E-bikes are a simple way people can cut down on their carbon emissions footprint and still be able to take the scenic route and enjoy the many sights in Boulder. Davis offered short tours at Rollerpalooza, where attendees could hop on an e-bike and ride around. He led the way up 13th Street and showed just a few of the murals featured in his mural tour.

Davis said he founded his company because he loves riding his bike around Boulder, and he wanted other people to also get to experience that same joy.