My Neighborhood
There are no recipes in this post, I have been very busy the last few weeks planning our annual block party. I live in Brooklyn, NY and my neighborhood has a very tight knit community, we have a block association and I am President of mine. We hold our block party every year in early October, this year it was yesterday Oct. 5th. It’s quite a process, I have to apply to the city for a permit for a street fair, we close the street to traffic all day and everyone has a great time, the children ride their bicycles, skateboards and scooters without fear of cars, we have a blow up ride, face painting, balloon sculpture, food, vendors and music. It takes a lot of planning to put this together, no small feat and with my little block party committee we work hard for weeks to get this whole event planned. We grill hamburgers and hot dogs and sell them with all proceeds going to benefit our block association, there are bake sales, stoop sales and all of our neighbors come together to talk and play and just generally have a good time. I didn’t get any photo’s of the food, it was fast and furious, but it was good we had thick juicy hamburgers on brioche rolls with lettuce and tomato and lots of condiments and add on’s, cheese and bacon. I was so busy grilling I didn’t have time to snap any photo’s we also had baked tilapia on a roll.
I just want to share some photo’s of yesterdays event, I’m exhausted but had a great time. I was the designated grill master, making the hamburgers, hot dogs etc… and was busy all day long. The weather was warm and sunny and a fun day was had by all.
Blow up ride
My block setting up
More set up
Live jazz
starting to get crowded
Adorable budding musician
apuginthekitchen 
What an enormous undertaking that must be. It looks amazing!
It is but so much fun, I love for neighbors to get together it’s what makes us a community. Thank you so much.
How fun!! Years ago in our last neighborhood we had yearly block parties. Everyone brought a side or dessert to pass but each person was responsible for their own main. Whiffle ball, egg tosses, volleyball, find the pennies in the sand, etc, etc. The kids loved it (including the grown up kids!!) A lot of work but so much fun!!
Isn’t it fun Pat, love getting together with our neighbors and friends, every year we have so much fun, the kids look forward to it and talk about it all year. It’s a lot of work but so worth the effort. Thanks so much.
You really know how to do a block party! We had our about a month ago and it was nothing like this. I love it. You are indefatiguable. I’m not sure if that’s a word. But I’m continually impressed by all that you do. BTW, I was at a food revival in upstate NY in early September and someone from Mealku was there. She shared with the group of about 100 of us there the potluck at your house. She’s describing it, and I’m thinking, that sounds familiar. So I asked her later, was that at Suzanne’s? YES. She just raved about all the commitment you’ve made to them. It’s always so wonderful to have one of those full circle moments. And it all started at Food52 🙂
Oh wow, you met Karen at that food event. she blogged about it on the mealku blog. It sounded great! Its such a small world and to think you would meet Karen from Mealku and we all know each other now. Amazing. Thank you so much. I love planning the block parties, community is very important to me and I work hard to try and make these events happen, it’s good for everyone, it’s so easy in NYC to live our separate lives in our own little worlds, but getting together as a neighborhood for a shared event forces us to get to know one another. Thank you Susan for your kind words.
What a great sounding block party! My neighborhoods block party is coming up soon! Yours looks very fun.
Oh have fun at your block party!! Ours was wonderful have to admit though I am exhausted but in a good way!
What an excellent idea and it sounds like great fun. Congratulations on organizing it and I hope that you can now have a rest and recharge your batteries.
Thank you, yes taking it easy today. It was great fun!
Block party fun! Great job organizing it!
Thanks next year you should come!!
Wow… good for you!! That looks like a huge job but one with a fantastic payoff! It looks like everyone was having a blast and I’m so glad you had great weather for it. There’s nothing like coming together as a community and that’s a wonderful way to stay and feel connected. Very nice! 🙂
Thank you and yes coming together as a community is the best!!
Can you please come be the grillmaster at my neighborhood’s block party? The guy that always appoints himself designated griller for our party, always always ALWAYS overcooks everything! hahaha. But other than that, it’s a good time (very similar to yours) – I love block parties!
Yes we have the same problem our usual self appointed grill master was out of town. I love block parties too!
Fun party!
It was thank you.
What a brilliant block party 😀
Cheers
CCU
Thank you!!
Love seeing where you live!! After all I’ve read on your blog, it’s nice to know that part of you… sounds like a great (if exhausting) day. thanks for the post!
Thanks Rhonda, I love my neighborhood, it’s friendly and people here genuinely care for each other. The day was wonderful, yes totally exhausting I didn’t sit down from 7AM-7:30PM. I was really tired.
Looks like a lot of fun and that all the hard work paid off! Lovely to see communities coming together like this!
I agree, thats in my opinion what neighbors and neighborhoods should do, come together. Thank you so much.
Oh what fun that must have been! I just love NY and when I took my girls there 2 years ago, we stayed in Brooklyn. LOVED it! And I get that Brooklyn feel from your photos. What a great event to organize Suzanne.
Oh how nice where in Brooklyn? I love it here, so different from Manhattan. Thanks so much.
This looks like so much fun!
Thank you it really was.
very cool!!!!
Thanks Liz, it was really cool!
A fun and memorable day! It was a massive undertaking – the neighborhood is lucky to have you.
Thanks Azita and thank you for all your help!
How lovely! Must have been so much fun! We have Diwali, Halloween and Christmas get togethers in our condos normally. Lovely planning them, and wonderful to see people coming together and enjoying them as well.
I have a lot of catching up to do…just got back from a long holiday 🙂
It’s fun for sure, we also have a holiday potluck every year. We try to plan at least 2 parties and at least 1 neighborhood cleanup or planting or something that brings us together in an effort to beautify our block. So good that you and your neighbors plan get togethers also Hope you had a very nice holiday and can’t wait for some posts about it.
That’s wonderful, Suzanne!! That IS a lot of work, though! We hosted our street block party several times, and it’s great to have neighbors you are close to! I was wondering why you hadn’t been posting, and now I know! Take some well-deserved rest now!! Good job!
Thanks Christina, yes have been very very busy but now I have some down time and plan on catching up with my cooking and baking and blog posting.
This looks like so much fun! We don’t have block parties in Australia, but I wish we did after reading about yours!
Do you live close to your neighbors? If you do you should have one, it’s really fun. Thank you.
Yeah I live just metres away from my neighbours, but I don’t know if we’d be given permission to close off the street etc. I’ll have to invite myself to a Brooklyn block party one day!!
Consider it an open invitation, first Saturday of October every year!!
Looks like an amazing time was had by all! Kudos!
It certainly was, thanks so much Cindy!
It looks like you had a great time! We have our yearly block party usually in July. It’s always so much fun 🙂 Block parties are such a great get-together
Oh how wonderful, you have one too! We don’t do summer because people are away for holiday, we have to wait until fall when school starts. Kind of an Octoberfest theme. Thanks Julian.
I’m impressed, so much fun, Suzanne! Love your neighborhood…
Thanks Linda, I love where I live. It’s vibrant and friendly and I love the strong sense of community.
Ah! Now I see what you have been up to! 🙂 What a great event!!! I’m sure it was a great success! 🙂
Yes, been working on this for a long time now, it was a great success and a lot of fun too! Thanks Francesca!
What a terrific service to the community this is. You’re such a great leader!
Glad it all went so well.
Maria
It was a really fun day, thanks so much Maria!
What a great event, Suzanne, although I may only imagine how much time, work and effort must have gone into making it happen and making it a successful event!
Well done! 🙂
Thanks Stefano, it was a tremendous amount of work to make this happen and make it seamless. Had to deal with many bumps in the road but with luck on our side it worked out.
What a fabulous block party, Suzanne! Such a lovely way for neighbors to connect and have fun. I’m glad to see you had such a good time!
We did have fun Hannah, thanks so much, I love it when we all get together and am already planning the holiday party!
How amazing! Good for you. It’s so happy to have a crowd, isn’t it.
Thanks Mary Frances, yes definitely having a crowd is very happy!
What a wonderful event to help with! As I have always thought…you are a rock star Suzanne! Sorry to be gone so long will be explained in a blog soon. I have missed you my friend!! xoxo
Thanks Suzie, I worry about you girl when I don’t see a blog post from you Hope everything is alright. Missed you too!
Isn’t it fun to live in a neighborhood that is not heartless? A neighborhood where your troubles never go unnoticed?
May God always put you amidst fun-filled, cheerful, happy friends and neighbors 🙂
What an incredibly sweet thing to say, thank you so much.
Suzanne-you’re incredible and such a heart warming person. I was smiling reading what you wrote and the pictures…especially the little boy…so cute! Seems like such a great event and a fantastic way to get to know your neighbors. My neighborhood doesn’t do block parties exactly, but they do hold big events with tents and fun things for kids all the time. They’ll bring in animals, face painters etc. Now that my sweet girl just turned 2, it will be fun to take her to these kinds of things.
Some neighborhoods just aren’t feasible to close off streets and hold the block parties, what our neighborhood does sounds really nice and your sweet little one will have a blast! A local politician came to our block party and promised next year she would get us a pony ride for kids, I am going to hold her to that!
That’s the first I’ve heard of them. I guess over here there are street parties, but those tend to celebrate something to do with the Royal Family! I’ve never been to one of those. Sounds like a lot of work but definitely worth it.
They happen fairly frequently here in Brooklyn, it really is a “Brooklyn” thing. You rarely see it in Manhattan. It is fun and yes a lot of work but it pays off in the end. Thanks Johnny!
It looks like a wonderful community to be a part of, for sure! 🙂
Thanks Shanna it really is!