When local streets close to cars to make way for bicyclists and other forms of transport — Los Angeles has its ever-moving CicLAvia, for example — sometimes, Wes Reutimann finds it best to describe it by what it is not:

It’s not a race. It’s not a parade. It’s not a fundraiser.

The 626 Golden Streets: Mission to Mission event on Sunday is a place to leisurely ride a bicycle, scooter, skateboard or walk in the middle of the street. In short, organizers have carved out 5 miles of carless roadways for the day.

It’s a fossil-fuel-free takeover of certain streets connecting from Mission Street in South Pasadena through central Alhambra and the historic San Gabriel Mission in San Gabriel.

The point? To show how getting from city to city can be done without hopping in a car. The aspiration? More people will use streets for walking, scooting or bicycling on nonevent days, because they want to get some exercise, reduce their carbon footprint, lessen local traffic or just have fun.

For cities in Mexico, South America and Europe, a ciclovía, or open streets event, is commonplace. For Americans, the idea of riding a bicycle instead of a car is a foreign concept, said Reutimann, special programs director for Active SGV, formerly Bike SGV, the organizer of the event.

“They are still new and novel (in America),” he said. “San Gabriel and Alhambra have never hosted an open streets event nor participated in one.”

Several streets will be closed to motor vehicles from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. These include Marengo Avenue, Alhambra Road, parts of Olive Avenue and Fifth Street, Main Street, Las Tunas Drive and Mission Drive.

The idea is not to ride straight through but to stop at a business or one of three festival hubs to hear live music or visit with 150 exhibitors talking about sustainable living, he said.

“You can be driving by a lot of places you have never noticed before unless you were moving at the speed of a bicycle,” Reutimann said. “You can hop off and grab a bite to eat or a drink.”

Exhibitors include high school marching bands, pet adoption agencies, demos on artistic crosswalks and a display with free test drives of electric vehicles put on by Plug-In America, a national organization.

Riders, runners or walkers can take selfies with Gabe The Sasquatch, the 6-foot-9 Golden Streets mascot and “mayor” of the San Gabriel Mountains, who only comes to the Valley when the streets are safe for bicycling — during an open streets event. He’ll be riding an electric-assist bicycle, Reutimann said.

The premiere 626 Golden Streets on March 5, 2017, ran 18 miles through seven cities and attracted 100,000 people. Sunday’s event is a smaller followup which is expected to bring 20,000 participants onto the streets of three west San Gabriel Valley cities.

The city of South Pasadena received a $270,000 grant from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for this event. Most of the cost is for traffic control and law enforcement, Reutimann said.

The three cities share an adversarial history regarding the major transportation issue that dominated the region for 60 years — the extension of the 710 Freeway. South Pasadena fought the project for decades, while Alhambra and San Gabriel wanted to see it built.

With that project now dead, the cities have joined together to find alternatives to freeway lanes to relieve local traffic.

“We’ve really developed a relationship with Alhambra and San Gabriel,” said South Pasadena Councilman and South Coast Air Quality Management District board member Michael Cacciotti, who will lead a bike ride during 626 Golden Streets.

“It is a historic shift how this region and these cities are viewing mobility. There’s a growing openness toward public transportation and active transportation projects,” Reutimann said.

The next open streets event will be Oct. 26 in El Monte and South El Monte.

To learn more about Sunday’s Golden Streets: Mission To Mission event, go to www.626goldenstreets.com.