How the street party was planned:
1. I started out by talking with several of the neighbours about the possibility of having a potluck street party.
2. To enhance organization efforts, I created a What’sApp group called Hughes Place Ladies with about a dozen women from the street to continue the discussion on possible dates. Once a date was determined, we used the Chat to let people know how many people were attending from each household and what food they would be bringing to share.
3. I produced a flyer to give to each house on the street and had the three boys who live next door help deliver them with me (a fourth boy also joined in). The flyer included the party date, bring a chair and a bite to share, that hamburgers, hotdogs, drinks and treats would be provided courtesy of the Neighbourhood Small Grant, and my contact information to provide me with RSVP information.
4. I got two families to volunteer to bring their barbecues to the street to cook the food, andthree families to bring foldable tables to set up for food service.
Other planning initiatives:
1. Contacted the A&W on Shaughnessy Street, who agreed to provide 30 glasses of free root beer (picked up early afternoon on June 23rd).
2. Drew schematic of where BBQs, tables, and garbage cans should be placed at the end of the cul-de-sac.
3. Around 2:00 pm, drew a chalk area on the side of the cul-de-sac called Games Zone so the kids were away (on the other side) from the table set up/food, and the neighbours started to help set up the tables, chairs, barbeques and set out supplies/food/coolers.
4. One of the neighbours contacted the Port Coquitlam Fire Chief to have PoCo Fire come to the party around 6:00 pm with the firetruck for the kids and adults to sit inside and also to spray the hose.
Comments received: Great family event being on a Sunday afternoon; newer neighbours really appreciated meeting everyone on the street; and can we do this again next year!
