Seattle Night Out

There’s about two to three months every year where everyone in Seattle turns their neighbor and says “this is why I live here”. You wouldn’t know it from this past weekend, but it’s getting to be that time. The days are long, flowers are in bloom, the air is warm, and everybody is just dying to get out and enjoy it.

We think of it as “front stoop weather”: the time of year when you can pass a day just sitting out on your steps, chatting with the neighbors and catching up on what you missed those other nine months. It’s not wasted time, either. Those idle, meandering conversations are what bind Wallingford together. They take neighbors and make a neighborhood.

Now, we know, it’s easy to forget to get out front and chat with your neighbors, either because you’re busy, or because you spent all that time gussying up your back yard and you don’t want to waste it. To help make sure you actually get out there and spend some quality time in the warmth with your neighbors, Seattle sponsors a yearly “Night Out”, when they encourage blocks all over the city to hold block parties. We know, we know, Margaret already mentioned it last week, but it bears repeating because it’s so important: once per year, neighbors turn off their televisions and Wii’s and Netflix and Internetz and emerge into the streets to spend an evening together as a community. Do not miss it.

We spent last year touring the various block parties on our bike, with Baby Z in tow in the trailer. A finer night we couldn’t imagine. A dozen parties across Wallingford, and everyone welcoming us with cheer and open arms. Let’s do it again!

To register your block for a block party on Tuesday, August 2, visit the SPD’s Night Out 2011 page, then get out knocking on doors and chat your neighbors up. If your block did it last year, do it again. If it didn’t, break some fresh ground. Don’t sit scowling behind your hoarfrost crusted window, mumbling humbugs. Get out!

http://www.seattle.gov/police/nightout/default.htm