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There’s no doubt that Americans are hungry for fresh, local food. Over the past decade, the number of farmers markets has doubled, with a 16 percent increase in 2010 alone. Even in the heart of New York City, urban residents savor the opportunity to wander in the open air, connecting with their regional growers.

This summer, bike-ped advocates at Transportation Alternatives came up with an innovative way to partner with their local farmers markets — and prove that kids have an appetite for open streets.

In July and August, TA worked with the Strategic Alliance for Health, an arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Harvest Home Farmer’s Market, a non-profit organization that runs 20 farmer’s markets in low-income neighborhoods, to produce a series of events called Play Street.

In the unused areas of farmers markets in East Harlem and the South Bronx, the streets remained off-limits to traffic and open to area children. Kids from the surrounding neighborhood turned out in droves to jump rope, play sports and even take yoga classes. Hosted in areas where more than one-third of residents live below the poverty line and more than 40 percent of primary school children are overweight or obese, Play Street drew more than 1,200 children and teenagers.

“Streets and sidewalks make up 80 percent of our public space in New York City and we need to make sure these streets benefit everyone, not just private vehicles,” Julia De Martini Day, director of transportation and health at TA, said in a press release last week. “Play streets are a great way to demonstrate the potential for NYC streets to be healthy places where kids and adults can socialize, play and exercise.”

The Play Street events went so well that advocates are hoping to expand the idea to eight other farmers markets next year. And to make their case, TA hooked up with the New York Academy of Medicine to conduct a survey of the events’ participants. The results, released last week, included some moving numbers.

- If not at the Play Street, 64 percent of children would have been doing something sedentary, like watching TV or playing video games

- Because of the Play Street, 84 percent of families felt their neighborhood was safer

- More than 90 percent said they would recommend Play Street to their friends and neighbors

“In New York City, our streets are our backyards,” Paul Steely White, executive director of TA, said. “By creating a safe space from cars at our doorsteps, play streets make the healthy choice the easy choice by allowing people to incorporate play and exercise into their daily routines.”

Read more about the project and download the Play Street report from our Resources Library.