The Downtown Greenway Has No Starting Line. LoFi Park Became One Anyway.

The Downtown Greenway became a full circle in May 2026, when the Western Branch was completed as the last mile of the four-mile loop around downtown Greensboro. The City and Action Greensboro held the ribbon-cutting on May 16 at Cairn's Course, 501 Guilford Avenue. Supporters said the project had been more than 25 years in the making, and city officials described it as a $54 million public-private investment. Since then, full ownership and operations have moved from Action Greensboro to the City of Greensboro.

A finished loop has no beginning or end, and the official map doesn't choose one for you. The City's fall schedule has made the choice anyway. The weekly run and walk club meets at LoFi Park on North Eugene Street. The guided walking tours start there and come back there. On Saturday, October 10, the free Art Battle is there too. If you've only used the greenway near home, LoFi Park is now the easiest place to start the whole loop.

Why the Map Leaves It Open

The greenway's map shows the whole loop, but its downloadable and interactive versions don't mark a starting point. The posts you'll see about every quarter mile are rescue markers for the Greensboro Fire Department's emergency response plan.

There are many ways in. The FAQ lists three dedicated parking lots, free on-street parking next to the loop, and the public decks downtown. You can also arrive by bus, from The Depot, or from adjoining greenways and bike lanes. The map's parking pins include West Market Street, East Market Street, North Eugene Street, Battleground Avenue, Carolyn Coleman Way, West Fisher Avenue, Prescott Street, Cumberland Street, JC Price Lane, Plott Street and Spring Garden Street. The City's greenways page lists accessible trailhead parking at 475 Spring Garden Street at Morehead Park and a second trailhead at Eugene and Bragg streets in Five Points. That same City page still lists the Downtown Greenway at three miles, with the four-mile loop described as coming "when complete," so use the greenway's own site for the current route.

So the loop can start anywhere. When you have a whole morning, though, LoFi Park gives you the most.

How LoFi Park Became the Front Door

LoFi Park is a pocket park with community art and seating at 500 N. Eugene St., right in front of Joymongers Brewing Co. Downtown Greensboro Inc.'s directory puts Joymongers 93 feet east of the park. The same directory lists Neighbors, Acropolis Restaurant and George's Garage as nearby places to eat and drink, with Deep Roots Market 387 feet north. Home Sight, one of the greenway's art pieces, stands in the park at North Eugene and West Smith streets.

That's coffee, groceries and a beer within a short walk of each other, which matters on a route with no restrooms. It also explains why the City's programs keep meeting there. The Downtown Greenway Run & Walk Club gathers at LoFi Park on Thursdays from 6 to 7 p.m., starting October 8 and running into late December. It's open to all ages and abilities and covers 2 to 4 miles at a run or walk. The City's Downtown Greenway calendar lists it as free. The free Downtown Greenway Walking Tours on Saturday, October 24, and Saturday, November 21, also start and finish at LoFi Park. Each takes about three hours to cover the full loop. The City asks walkers to use on-street parking or the public deck at 215 N. Eugene St. and to leave nearby business lots for those businesses' customers.

Heading South on the Newest Mile

From LoFi Park, the Western Branch is the closest part of the loop to start on, and it's the part most likely to be new to you. It follows a former railroad corridor from Smith Street down to Spring Garden Street. Along part of the way, it runs beside College Branch Stream.

Most of what the City added in 2026 sits along this stretch. It got new site furnishings and signage, two neighborhood benches, two decorative crosswalks, three bike racks, a mural and a stretching station. Walking south from Smith Street, you'll pass these stops in order:

1. Home Stretch on Smith Street, where the branch meets the Northern Passage.
2. The Wonder of Water Walk, a series of stops along College Branch Stream between West McGee and Smith streets. They teach about local waterways.
3. Backyard Bird Conversations, between West McGee and West Market.
4. May-Bee and the Bot (in the Uncanny Valley) at West Market Street. It's a 28-foot interactive sculpture by Pete Beeman, and you can turn a hand crank to move its wings.
5. Creekside Current at the Friendly Avenue underpass.
6. Cairn's Course, between West Friendly Avenue and Guilford Avenue. Its earth-cast cairns and terrazzo stepping stones refer to the stream and its aquatic life.
7. Delphina Station, just north of the Guilford Avenue crossing.

Cairn's Course is also where the ribbon was cut in May, and where the City's Fall Into Fitness classes meet on Tuesdays in October.

Around the Older Three-Quarters

The Western Branch ends at the southwest corner of the loop. From there, the path picks up the sections people have been walking for years. The official names are Southern Trace, Eastern Way and Northern Passage, and together with the Western Branch they make up the loop.

At the southwest corner. Morehead Park is at Spring Garden and Edgeworth, and the neighborhood bench Inside/Out is there. Over.Under.Pass., a lit gallery inside a railroad underpass, is at Morehead Park too. At West Gate City Boulevard and the Freeman Mill Road ramp, Gateway of the Open Book is a large lit sculpture of an open book. It includes sculptures children made from found materials.

Southern Trace and Five Points. The Five Points Bench at the Freeman Mill ramp has five seats and recovered stones. They honor Warnersville, the historic community also known as Five Points. Between South Eugene Street and the ramp is Off We Go, by Brad Oldham Studios. It shows two chickens and a puppy riding a tandem bike. It was installed in 2026 to honor longtime project manager Dabney Sanders. It stands where the greenway first broke ground in 2009. Further east, A Monument to Dignity and Respect is a pair of neighborhood benches at Carolyn Coleman Way and Arlington Street and at Bragg Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Ascension marks the Freedom Cornerstone at Murrow Boulevard and East Gate City Boulevard.

Eastern Way. Woven Works Park sits at Murrow Boulevard and East Lindsay Street. Its play pieces are inspired by textiles and named Revolution Cone, Jungle Jeans, Selvedge Sandbox and Sit and Spin, and there's a pollinator garden. Vigilance is a mosaic-and-concrete bench at Murrow and East Market Street.

Northern Passage. Daydreamers at Play is at Murrow Boulevard and Chestnut Street. At West Smith and Prescott streets, Meeting Place casts words from Revolutionary War-era letters as shadows. The site also has a public orchard with 19 kinds of fruit trees. A few blocks west, you're back at LoFi Park.

The greenway's catalog lists more than 50 installations, so walking the loop a second time will turn up pieces you missed the first time.

What to Plan Around

The City's tours plan about three hours for the four miles, which is a useful pace to plan around if you'll be stopping at the art. The FAQ is specific about what the loop does and doesn't have. There are no public restrooms anywhere along the greenway. There are drinking fountains, but they're turned off in the winter months. The path is 12 feet wide and paved, with lighting on every section and bike fix-it stations with basic tools.

It's open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can use e-bikes, e-scooters and motorized wheelchairs, but not golf carts, dirt bikes, motorbikes or ATVs. Dogs are welcome on a leash. The posted guidelines ask you to keep right, pass on the left, and watch for traffic at street crossings.

Since there are no restrooms on the loop, a starting point surrounded by businesses helps on a three-hour walk. That's another reason LoFi Park works well as the start.

The Loop's Fall Calendar

Greensboro Parks and Recreation now runs the greenway's daily operations, maintenance and programming. Here's what's scheduled from this week into November:

A Downtown Greenway Community Picnic is listed for Saturday, October 17, at Woven Works Park, 401 Cumberland St. The City still calls the date tentative and lists the cost as "TBD ($10-25)," so check before you go. The 17th Annual Downtown Greenway Run & Block Party took place on September 26. The City's Downtown Greenway calendar doesn't list another race for the rest of the year.

If you only do one thing this fall, sign up for the October 24 tour. You'll walk the whole loop with City staff, starting and ending at LoFi Park, and the Western Branch stops will make more sense after you've heard the history behind them.

I'm Melody, and I've enjoyed watching the Downtown Greenway close its final mile this year. If you walk the loop this fall and want to talk about the blocks along it or what's been built near it, Melody B. Davis would be glad to hear from you. Let's Connect.