Fantastic 2011 Block Party!

Our annual Arnett Block Party this past Saturday was fantastic, thanks to the generous participation of so many amazing volunteers and contributors. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts!

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We've had a very hot and dry summer, but the weatherman was predicting thunderstorms for Saturday afternoon and many of us were concerned. As it turned out, we had a comfortably overcast day with so few sprinkles that most people didn't even notice that rain came down at all! 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 Tom Zumbo unloaded his grill, the basketball hoop went up, R Community Bikes arrived, and we closed off Arnett Blvd. between Warwick and Rugby. Richard Stutzman high-fived onto the premises as Happy the Clown, Tom Stefano and Randy VanAuken got the music going, a crowd began to gather, and the party was on! By early afternoon the ZooMobile was here and Victor the Magician was ready to wow the crowd with his amazing show. We knew we were in full gear when Mitzie Collins, Tom Bohrer, their family team had us all in thrall with their Punch and Judy Show!

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 Miskell and "Nero" with their K-9 show and Officer Deirdre Hammond who signed up dozens of kids (!) with Operation Safe Child; to Michelle Preston, Aya Kaufmann, Cynthia Hobbs and Doug Smith for manning the helium balloons and decorating so many eager faces; and to Debra Parris and her flag team for their inspiring act.

We were delighted that the Genesee Street Fire House sent their big fire truck 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 fixing one bike after another all afternoon; 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 Sarah Love, Stacey Markum, Brittney Bryant, Dee Skelton and Althea for running our Grace Family Medicine / Embracing Options booth; ; to Bruce Tehan from the Arnett Branch Library for his kids' story time; to Robert Matthews for setting up and running a spectacular hoops competition all afternoon; and to Leronne Evans and members of the 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!