The San Diego Traveler

Time for a Neighborhood Party

by Carole A. Lane on June 29th, 2008

Does your neighborhood get together to celebrate Independence Day?  If not, why not start something?

I know that Californians don’t have the best reputation for being good neighbors. In fact, I have lived in places where I never even met my neighbors until the day I was moving out! Fortunately, I haven’t found that to be the case in San Diego county.

When we moved onto our cul-de-sac ten years ago, we heard that this neighborhood used to have the best 4th of July parties around, but they didn’t anymore. For the first few years here, we talked with neighbors about starting something up, but it just never came together.

Finally, after five years, I got on my computer and designed a flier for an old fashioned 4th of July Ice Cream Social, made a bunch of copies (about $4 worth), and put them in all of the mailboxes on the block.  I had no idea if anyone would come, but I figured the worst that could happen was that we would sit and eat ice cream alone. Not too horrible, right? Well, my kids and I made a couple of kinds of homemade ice cream that week (mango and chocolate chip, I think) and we waited.

On the morning of July 4th, we put a table and some chairs down at the end of our driveway, along with a cooler, some paper bowls, plastic spoons and napkins.  It wasn’t long before our neighbors started showing up with rootbeer and cups, toppings, cones, and more kinds of homemade and store-bought ice cream than I would have ever dreamed of. Over the next couple of hours, more neighbors showed up, and everyone stayed to sit and talk. On that day, friendships were forged and renewed, and the cul-de-sac became more of a neighborhood.

Over the next year, people stopped me to thank me often, asking about the next year and whether we’d do it again. Of course we would! I was a little embarrassed by how little work it was, and how much praise I was getting, but I’ve somehow learned to live with it.

Since that time, we’ve added portable shade structures, umbrellas, and many more chairs, but the ice cream social remains just as simple. We make two kinds of ice cream every year, and end up with much more than that, along with some great neighbors.

If you’d like something fun to do on Friday (the 4th), I recommend an ice cream social. You don’t even have to make the ice cream; store-bought will be fine too. If you’re lactose-intolerant, bring sherbet. Even if no one else comes, you’re only out a few dollars and you can eat the ice cream yourself, so what could be easier?

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POSTED IN: Family Fun, Food & Beverage