The thing is, come out, give love to your neighbor.

September 16, 2019 5:08 PM

Block Parties NYC [SLNYT]
posted by jjray (8 comments total)

This is great! I love block parties. I just bought a house in a new neighborhood and our block party was bangin': GIANT inflatable bounce house/maze/slide thing, bball hoops, kids riding bikes back and forth, everyone out cooking and sharing food and drinks, and karaoke well into the night! The block a little ways from us had pony rides at theirs.

It's amazing what happens when people take back the streets from cars. I was a little sad the next day when all the parked and moving cars were back.
posted by misskaz at 5:58 PM on September 16, 2019 [2 favorites]

Block parties! They are great. There's a semi-annual block party one street over that we are honorary members of, and it is fantastic. My block is a bus route so closing it is off the table, but I want to host a Stoop Spectacular this year so everybody can bring their grills or whatever out and socialize.
posted by grumpybear69 at 6:38 PM on September 16, 2019

Our neighborhood does one for each of the three summer holidays. They get permits to block off one city block and put up tables and tents; everyone brings a side dish or dessert and the neighborhood association supplies the burgers and hot dogs and alcohol. Everyone drinks too much beer or wine in the hot sun but we all live here so no one has to drive home.
posted by octothorpe at 7:04 PM on September 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

How does one form a block association and get permission from their neighbors? Asking for my block next summer.
posted by lauranesson at 11:11 PM on September 16, 2019

In Seattle you don't need any formal organization, you apply at least 14 days in advance for a permit and you manage some logistics.

(The map at that seattle.gov site showing planned block parties -- that is a strikingly white geographic distribution.)
posted by away for regrooving at 4:57 AM on September 17, 2019

Yeah in Chicago you need to get a certain number of signatures from people on the block, then you apply for a permit. You can go to your alderman's office to get official no parking signs and put them up. If you plan far enough in advance the city even has a bounce house you can reserve for free, and I think you can request for a fire truck to show up for the kids.
posted by misskaz at 7:01 AM on September 17, 2019

We used to have an annual block party in mid-August. It was pretty great, actually talking to the people you live among.

It was an informal thing. It was mostly held in someone's driveway at the end of our cul-de-sac. There would be a jam session in his garage, and coolers full of drinks, and treat tables, and things would just spill out into the street.

It lasted until the house two doors down phoned in a noise complaint -- at three in the afternoon on a Saturday.

No-one has much to do with the people in that house anymore.
posted by Capt. Renault at 7:10 AM on September 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

> irs.

It's amazing what happens when people take back the streets from cars

Because I'm a bad person, one of my favorite parts of my block's Block Party is when I see the drivers who ignored all the "road closed" signs have to turn around. (That included an ambulance at our most recent one. I presume nobody was dying? We would've moved the tables but they turned around before we could.)
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:35 PM on September 17, 2019