This year’s A2 Fall Streets program came to a close Sept. 27 — one month earlier than in 2024 — after organizers shortened the schedule in response to traffic and accessibility concerns, prompting mixed reactions from businesses and community members.
The Main Street Area Association’s annual event closes sections of Main, Liberty and Washington streets to vehicle traffic over four weekends in September. This year featured live performances from 17 bands and artists while patrons ate on the street. As an extension of the A2 Summer Streets tradition, which started in 2020, the program aimed to encourage outdoor dining and pedestrian activity downtown.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Ashley Schafer, executive director of MSAA, said the closures presented logistical challenges, specifically the availability of parking for customers of downtown businesses.
“It can be a little difficult to navigate the traffic flow outside of that closure for their customers to park,” Schafer said. “We really try to find a happy medium to support businesses, both within and outside of that enclosure.”
Schafer said for restaurants within the street closure, opening outdoor dining areas each weekend can be demanding.
“Taking their patio furniture in and out every single week, they have to hire additional staff, not just to serve the patios, but to actually set them up,” Schafer said. “They want to make sure that they have really nice, beautiful patios. It’s a lot of time and effort into them.”
Despite these challenges, Schafer said data collected by the MSAA show continued growth in downtown foot traffic during the Fall Streets weekends.
“We’re seeing more traffic Thursday through Sunday,” Schafer said. “We’re actually seeing a pretty large uptick in Sunday traffic. Year over year, we’re seeing growth for this programming, so residents have shown support for the program.”
In an interview with The Daily, Maura Thomson, MSAA board member and executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, said the early ending of Fall Streets aimed to cater to the interests of a variety of businesses.
“Some businesses feel that the closures benefit them, some businesses don’t,” Thomson said. “Some residents appreciate the closures, some residents don’t. I think they were just trying to strike a better balance.”
The AADDA’s 2025 Downtown Area Circulation Study proposes an alternative seasonal closure plan that would keep Main Street open to vehicle traffic, while keeping side streets Liberty and Washington open to pedestrians only.
Downtown Home & Garden, a shop located just outside the street closure zone, has served the Ann Arbor community since 1906. The business, which relies heavily on customers arriving by car, recently announced its closure at the end of this year. In an email to The Daily, owner Kelly Vore wrote that street closures make it increasingly difficult for customers to access the store.
“It prevents our regular customers from getting to us and we are a vehicle driven kind of business,” Vore wrote. “Our customers realize that their access is not a priority for A2 city gov’t.”
Vore added that while businesses with evening customers benefit from the pedestrian environment, businesses who get most of their customers during the day, such as hers, do not get the same boost.
“Daytime use of the closed areas has minimal customers and is sparse at best,” Vore wrote. “It almost exclusively favors the after 5:00 crowd, which is fine, but to close day business to accommodate the night, is a trade-off none of us agreed to. The biggest issue with the street-fight in general is that there is a constant tug-of-war for pushing others out in favor of another. There are no gains that way.”
In an interview with The Daily, Tom Murray, owner of Conor O’Neill’s Irish Pub, which operates an outdoor dining space during Fall Streets, said the event has brought more visitors downtown through various events and performances.
“They’re a big benefit to us,” Murray said. “We feel that it brings a lot of people, residents and visitors downtown … the Main Street area has really put a lot of its resources into activating the blocks when it is on, so there tends to be something going on every Thursday, Friday, Saturday night, Sundays too.”
Murray said the feedback from customers has been overwhelmingly positive, although some residents expressed frustration with the traffic disruptions.
“We get a lot of very, very positive feedback,” Murray said. “We do get some negative feedback from some residents who live downtown, because it’s a little more difficult for them to get in and out on the weekends.”
In an interview with The Daily, Curtis Sullivan, co-founder and co-owner of Vault of Midnight, said the pedestrian closures and outdoor performances have boosted business and created a more lively atmosphere on Main Street.
“It’s been very good for us,” Sullivan said. “We enjoy it for our business. We’ll get approached a lot like, ‘Hey, can we put (a performance) in front of your store?’ and we always say yes. We’re huge fans. I think activity and busyness — it’s all helpful.”
In an interview with The Daily Music, Theatre & Dance junior Sage Taylor, lead singer of student band Grenadine, said performing at Fall Streets was a unique experience for the band and attracted a broader audience than their typical student crowd.
“It was incredibly unique compared to other shows we’ve played; I don’t think we have ever played anything like that, and I don’t know if we ever will,” Taylor said. “It was so interesting to meet and interact with all different kinds of people that might not typically be at one of our shows.”
As planning begins for next year’s Fall Streets, Schafer said the MSAA will continue to refine the program based on community feedback.
“Our goal is to make sure that whatever programming we do downtown supports the businesses and the residents and people enjoy it,” Schafer said. “We’re going to keep talking to our members and listening to our residents and find that best fit.”
Daily News Contributor Niko Wilson can be reached at nikow@umich.edu.
