Neighborhood Block Parties: A Youth Report on an Enduring Palo Alto Tradition

As we approached the block party between Emerson and El Carmelo on August 24th, welcoming voices greeted us to their charming barbecue and made us feel immediately welcome. In fact, this welcoming sense of community is pervasive within Midtown and across Palo Alto as a whole. You can look, walk, and talk differently, but you still feel like a member of a Palo Alto’s large family.

Starting at 2:00pm, the neighbors placed compost and recycling bins on the street, set up tables, laid out various foods (along with emergency preparedness fliers), fired up the grill and cooked the staples: hot dogs and burgers. Attendance filled up slowly but gradually and all passersby were invited to join in the fun. By 3:00pm, over 25 kids and adults of different nationalities and backgrounds had come together to eat and connect. In fact, we discovered that the only way to not be welcome at a Palo Alto block party is to not eat!

Later in the afternoon, a Palo Alto Fire Department truck with a small crew came to chat with the adults and throw water balloons with the kids. This was not only a highlight for the young kids, but also for us as teenagers. “Wow,” we thought, “A fire truck just for us?” Our family lived in Mountain View before moving to here in 2009, so we appreciate the neighborhood parties, the fire trucks, the people and the many other reasons why Palo Alto is one of the best places to live.

If all the communities in America had the same diversity and hospitality as Palo Alto, then we could begin to see more open-minded people. Goals like world peace, or even American peace begin with these small steps and small ideas that can lead up to the big picture. The Emerson-El Carmelo block party demonstrated that small step towards a brighter America.

Written by Albert Phan and Sean Phan

Albert and Sean come to Palo Alto Pulse through Caring Neighbors, a project of Project Safety Net, an effort to help connect youth the community and promote well-being in Palo Alto. Research shows that youth who feel valued in their community enjoy better mental health; a greater sense of personal control and optimism; reduced crime, violence, and fighting; less substance abuse.