Unlike the first temporary closure of the Mainkai for cars, the possibilities offered by the street space should be better used. This applies not only to festivals such as the Mainfest and the Museumsuferfest. With the "Summer on the Main" program, the Mainkai is also to be enlivened during the vacation weeks with a range of sports, exercise and cultural activities. The offer was presented today, Friday, by City Councilors Rosemarie Heilig and Eileen O'Sullivan and City Councilors Stefan Majer and Mike Josef on site.
The goal of the action is to discuss the future use of the historically significant urban space between the Römer and the Main, should it no longer be a street space. To see what is possible and what the people of Frankfurt think about it, workshops and surveys will be held throughout the period until September 4 as part of the "Post-Corona-Innenstadt" project with the support of cooperation partner Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM). "We are excited to see how citizens will participate. Because we can and would like to learn from the experience of this form of participation for other projects and participation formats," says City Councilor Eileen O'Sullivan.
Also involved is the Making Frankfurt initiative, which will present the temporary "Mainkai Workshop" between the Historical Museum and Mainkai 21, where planting beds or furniture can be built and where a colorful garden of plants and ideas will be created.
But at the center of "Summer on the Main" will be numerous opportunities to appropriate the street space for sports and exercise. First of all, there will be something to look at, because artists, together with students from a total of nine Frankfurt schools, have turned the street surface into an art space and painted it with sports fields and graphic motifs as part of a street art campaign. "The sports and movement fields that students painted on the street invite people to participate and try them out. A big thank you goes to the sports circle and its clubs, which lift a large part of the offers," explains Sports and Planning Department Mike Josef.
The colorful project "Urban Sports Park" by the collective TAB and Stabil for the Sports Department of the City of Frankfurt was designed by Michaela Kessler for Desres Design Studios and the execution is done by Florian Joeckel and Achim Richter for Guilty76 Street Guerilla and Massif Central.
The offers are mainly designed by associations, museums and other actors on a voluntary basis and take place regularly in the afternoon and early evening until 8 pm. On individual days on Fridays and Saturdays there are offers until 10 pm. Initially height Mainkai 20 and later at the Eisernen Steg there will be a catered toilet, open Sundays to Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m.
More information about the program is available online at https://www.sommerammain.de/
