Our 2010 Block Party was a wonderful success yesterday, thanks to the generous participation of so many amazing volunteers and contributors. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts!
We’ve had a hot and muggy summer, but Saturday turned out to be the best day of the season so far. Our God is faithful! So many marvelous people were involved in making our day a success that it will be hard to list them, but I’ll give it a try. Our setup crew arrived early and up went the tents! Then Ron Coleman unloaded 2 giant charcoal grills, Albert Algarin set up his snow cone machine, Tom Stefano got the music going, Richard Stutzman high-fived onto the premises as Happy the Clown, and a fantastic circus atmosphere began to emerge. We closed off Arnett Blvd. between Warwick and Rugby; Ron and Beverly fired up their grills; and a crowd began to gather that included almost everyone in the neighborhood by mid-afternoon. When Jeff Peden and Joe Showers opened up their Airplay Jugglers stage, we knew the show was on!
Special thanks go out to Rora, Nancy, and all the other faithful members of the Arnett Block Association whose tireless planning, preparation, and free food service made the whole event possible; to the City of Rochester for letting us block off Arnett Blvd. and sending RPD Officer Miskel with his K-9 show and Sergeant Frank DiPrimo who signed up 65 kids (!) with Operation Safe Child; to Kim Tookes, Maeve Cullinane and Sarah, Kristen Peden, and J.J. Kaufman for manning the helium balloons and decorating so many eager faces; to rap artist and brother Cuevas Walker; to Mr. Beau the Clown for his wonderful show; and to our own award-winning Wilson Academy Step Team for their amazing hand-clapping, foot-stamping, step dancing performance (see bonus YouTube video below).
We were delighted that the Gardiner St. Fire House sent their big hook-n-ladder and team and that the Rural-Metro Ambulance squad was able to join us for the afternoon, giving hundreds of kids a chance to investigate and actually climb up into a real fire truck and ambulance!
Overwhelming gratitude goes out to R Community Bikes for their generosity in giving away 15 free bikes this year and fixing numerous other ones; to City Councilman Dana Miller for his lively performance as our Master of Ceremonies; to all our sponsoring merchants who provided us with so many generous donations and raffle prizes; to Michelle Preston (who somehow disappeared when Crayola the Clown showed up), Sarah Love, Stacey Markum, Sandi Clawson and Althea for running our Grace Family Medicine / Embracing Options booth; to Lisa McElroye for her free massage demonstrations; to Jeanne from the Arnett Branch Library for her kids’ story time; to Michael Peace and Bethel Express for hosting an open house at Risego; to Rob Matthews for setting up and running a spectacular hoops competition all afternoon; and to Leronne Evans and the entire New Life Gospel Choir for the wonderful tribute they paid to our Lord by leading us in open worship before our God and Maker at the close of the afternoon.
Remarkably, everyone pitched in and helped, so even the cleanup was a breeze and by 5 pm you never would have known the event had happened. Already folks are making plans for “next year’s Block Party.” Want to help? Just give us a call! God bless you all!
