Champlain Villa Block Party

We had a block party in our townhouse complex at the playground area. We had advertised it by way of “postcards” put in everyone’s mail box as well as chalk art ads down the driveways into the parking areas. Our church had donated use of their tents, and friends came out to man the bbqs and do faceprinting. There were balloon bouquets and decor to brighten the area as well as bubble machines. We had a lot of burgers and hotdogs and veggies and drinks, but everyone was also encouraged to bring things to share. Throughout the evening (4:30 to 8ish) we had about 75 people come. People brought out lawn chairs and connected. It was really wonderful as people had conversations with people they had seen but not connected with before. Kids were playing with each other too. It was the first of anything like it in our complex, and people commented that they wanted it to happen again next year and some people wanted to be involved in future events too. I anticipate in future years, the neighbours themselves manning the bbq and contributing to the event, though I was very grateful for the willingness of our church to help do a lot of the behind the scenes work so that our neighbours would be free to connect.