I just heard from Justin Mayfield, Director ofLocal Life Tacoma, about an idea for using the upcoming July 4 holiday in the U.S. as an opportunity for block-level community building - moving your July 4 barbeque to your FRONT yard.

Justin is trying to get this idea going and has launched a website to promote this idea - with a map to show all the front yard barbeques that are happening that day, with an easy way for people to add their own. Justin asked me to share this idea with my networks and to encourage people to join in and pass along the information.

Here's the site -http://frontyardbbq.org/about.html.

I'm also curious about simple, fun people-centered simple ideas that make community building and neighboring real and could be knit together in a way to suggest a growing movement in this direction. I'm especially curious about the personal stories of people who are joining in - moving their barbeque to the front yard, for example.

I think of long standing programs like National Night Out and the growing Janes Walk movement - also Dave Runyon's Art of Neighboringactivities, Mark Hopkins' We Should Know Each Otherparties in Calgary, and Ross Chapin's 10 Ideas for Creating Community Where You Live, and Jon Horwitt's Lawns 2 Lunch 4 Kidsjourney in Arlington. I''m sure that the ABCD in Action community has thousands of other examples to share.

What comes to mind for you?

Janis Foster Richardson

updated by @janis-foster-richardson: 10/24/16 04:45:35PM

Janis,

Thanks for posting this. i am happy to see the groundswell of this and related activities such as Mark Hopkins' "We Should Know Each Other" efforts. My wife and I moved into a new neighborhood this past winter. In the first 4 months we were there, we didn't meet many people. We did go and knock on all of our neighbor's doors to introduce ourselves and learn their, and their pet's, names. In May and early June, I had about 5 weeks off from work, and I decided I was going to spend the better part of that time in the front yard. I spent the first week sifting rocks and weeds from the yard to create a vegetable and flower garden. Two days after I started, neighbors began to stop and talk briefly with me as I worked. After a month, I had a beautiful garden plot and a checkerboard knowledge of who lived where and what their daily routines were like. Although this was a more passive approach than hosting a neighborhood barbecue, it was a great beginning for a naturally shy person like me. Today, even though I am working weekdays, I reap the rewards of my efforts each time I see a neighbor. We are already planning a neighborhood social in the front yard..if the rain and wind let up before winter.

Matthew

A colleague in St. Louis is participating in this neighborhood approach:https://nextdoor.com/#section_1She says she is meeting new people and is feeling very excited that something is happening.