A Week with Festival Trail
With just three years until the 2028 Olympic & Paralympic Games, the Festival Trail is on the move. There’s a lot to accomplish, and we’ve hit the road to share our vision, spark conversations, and identify the collaborators needed to bring the Festival Trail to life.
Here’s what we’ve been up to this past week:
On Wednesday, we sat in on the Ad Hoc 2028 Olympic & Paralympic Games Committee meeting at Union Station.
Our highlight? Watching the Metro committee pass a motion to initiate the coordination of ‘fan zones’ — dedicated spaces for fans to watch and celebrate the Games together. The zones would be strategically located across Los Angeles to ensure they are:
Accessible through existing and planned transit systems
Reflective of local culture and communities
Connected with strong first/last mile options
Festival Trail voiced strong support for this motion during the public comment period, inspired by the success of the fan zone model in Paris 2024, where 26 official zones and 200+ community-driven “club zones” drew over 1.3 million visitors during just two and half weeks of Games.
We’re already brainstorming how these fan zones might take shape in Los Angeles, creating spaces for all Angelenos to participate in the excitement of the Games — not just those who can afford tickets. Beyond building camaraderie, fan zones are a way to maximize the enormous economic and cultural opportunity of the Olympics. Another lesson from Paris: 9.5 million tickets were sold for the 2024 Games, but about 3 million additional tourists arrived just to experience the energy of the host city.
Let’s take advantage of this moment in LA by designing activations that celebrate our city’s rich cultural diversity, promote climate resilience, and uplift local businesses. If we do it right, these fan zones can direct visitors’ attention and spending to the parts of LA that often go overlooked while simultaneously laying the groundwork for more connected and resilient communities for years to come.
On Thursday, Festival Trail joined the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiatives (LANI) Community Forum for a day of inspirational conversations and brainstorming at the California Endowment Center.
The LANI Forum opened with a panel featuring key leaders of the LA28 effort: Laura Rubio-Cornejo (LADOT General Manager), Paul Krekorian (Executive Director of the City of LA Office of Major Events), and Stephanie Wiggins (CEO of LA Metro). Two key themes resonated with us: the panelists’ vision for a “transit-first Games” that permanently transforms the way Angelenos think about mobility, and an “Olympics for all” that engages all Angelenos.
Legacy and inclusion are at the heart of our mission, and we were excited to lead a workshop at the LANI forum to share and explore how the Festival Trail can transform both the built and social infrastructure in LA in ways that will continue to benefit communities decades after the closing ceremony.
Photo courtesy of LANI and Image by Nick
During the workshop, Karen Mack, president and founder of LA Commons, helped highlight one of the ways Festival Trail could permanently transform the social infrastructure of LA by “putting communities on the map.” The group was full of ideas, including:
Kiosks or stations that share community stories, histories, and landmarks
A guide highlighting local restaurants & businesses along the Trail
Murals commissioned from local artists that celebrate the identity of each neighborhood
The huge number of creative suggestions from attendees was a great reminder of why Festival Trail embraces a community-driven approach. As co-founder Hilary Norton reminded the crowd, “This is not a top-down project. This is a conversation. We’re doing this together.”
On Friday, Festival Trail joined hundreds of transit advocates, community planners, and policymakers at the Sheraton Grand for Move LA’s 2025 Community Conversation and Policy Conference.
We were thrilled to host a breakout session at the Move LA Conference where Festival Trail co-founder Chris Torres presented our vision of the Festival Trail and how — together — we can make it a reality.
The discussion didn’t shy away from hard truths — from strained budgets, shifting political climates, and an ever-ticking clock, the challenges of hosting a megaevent like the Olympics and Paralympics (with LA28 set to be the biggest in history) are innumerable. “But when the challenge is this big,” Torres reminded the group, “the solution needs to be equally big.” Torres also stressed the need for creativity, noting that with just three years left until the Games, traditional approaches are simply too slow to meet the moment.
For the Festival Trail, this means taking an opportunistic approach — connecting and amplifying projects already in motion. “Let’s create something at legacy scale by stitching together current and planned investments,” Torres urged. There are so many promising infrastructure projects in the works across Los Angeles. But in such a sprawling, disconnected city, we need thoughtful activations to make those projects visible and accessible.
The Festival Trail is within our reach, but we can’t do it alone. We need collaboration at every level, from community input and organizational partnerships to private and philanthropic support. However you want to participate, we want you on board!
Ways to get involved today: