Meet Your Neighbors!
Published October 27, 2024
⏱️5 min read
Our most recent "Meet Your Neighbors" event was Wednesday Oct 16, 2024 - once again, a lovely evening
We were again blessed with cool but comfortable autumnal weather, a wonderful spread of food and beverages for our pot-luck dinner, and most importantly, a good turnout of long-time and new residents of our PPUABA blocks for an evening of mingling and socializing.
Thank you to Stacey Weinstein, who organized the event and to the volunteers who brought folding tables, helped with closing and later re-opening the street, setting up and taking down tables and all the other tasks it takes to hold such an event. And to all the attendees who brought the delicious food!
Below are a few photos of the event, taken by Underhill Avenue neighbor Matt Weinstein. You can see a larger collection of Matt's photos here.
Neighbors enjoyed a wonderful spread for our pot-luck dinner.
Rick, Dee, Joe and Camilla
Robin, Den and Marc
Stacey and Meg
Ethan, Kyle and Jackson
A Lovely Fall Outdoor Party and Potluck Dinner - Wednesday Oct 19 2023
On an autumnal evening with perfect cool weather, a good turnout of neighbors came together to share a potluck dinner and socialize on Underhill Avenue between Park Place and Sterling. There was plenty of delicious homemade food, a nice variety of beverages, and opportunities for long-time friends and new friends to enjoy each other's company. Kids had fun writing on the street with chalk and decorating trick-or-treat bags for Halloween.
A big thank you to PPUABA President Patti Veconi, who organized the event and to the volunteers who brought folding tables, helped with closing and later re-opening the street, setting up and taking down tables and all the other tasks it takes to hold such an event.
Below are several photos taken by Underhill Avenue neighbor Matt Weinstein. You can see a larger collection of Matt's photos here.
Our "Meet Your Neighbors" event on Wed, Oct 6 2021
Our Fall "Meet Your Neighbors" event was a great opportunity for adults, kids, and quite a few pups to come together and socialize on our Underhill Avenue Open Street. For newcomers to our blocks, it was a chance to meet some neighbors; for longer-term residents, a chance to re-connect; the kids got to enjoy making painted "pet rocks", and the pups enjoyed each others' company. Many thanks to Park Place neighbor Gib Veconi who provided lovely musical accompaniment to the festivity.
See several photos below, as well as a collection of photos taken by neighbor Matt Weinstein, which can be viewed here.
Our "Meet Your Neighbors" event on May 15 2021 was a great success!
With the good fortune of beautiful weather, about 50 PPUABA members gathered on Underhill Avenue for an afternoon of socializing, buying plants, and enjoying kids' games and the entertainment of Liam the Magician. Out of consideration for COVID safety, we couldn't hold our full traditional block party this spring, but we were still able to enjoy time together following COVID safety protocols.
Below are a few photos of the event. Neighbor Matthew Weinstein took many more and his photos of the event can be found here.
Thank you to Den Gordon and Robin Ketchum, who bought the plants for the very successful plant sale and staffed the plant table.
Mary Hatch, pictured here with Robin Ketchum, also helped staff the plant table.
Before most of the crowd arrived, neighbor Warren Fray swept the entire block of Underhill Avenue! Thank you, Warren!
Phyllis Brody, Sharon Combs and Fran Caroll (not pictured here) staffed the registration table, recording the names of attendees for COVID contact tracing if needed. PPUABA Treasurer Ed Regan collected membership contributions.
Kids enjoyed a variety of bubble machines, as well as sidewalk chalk and pickleball.
Liam the Magician dazzled and entertained the crowd!
Liam in action juggling.
Kids and adults enjoyed the magic show.
And of course, neighbors had a chance to socialize and catch up.
Thank you to all the volunteers who planned the event, put up the flyers and "No Parking" signs, took the plant sale pre-orders, bought the plants, staffed the plant table and the registration table, collected membership contributions, organized the kids games and the magic show, set up the barricades to close the street and later took them down, and helped move the equipment and supplies to and from the event.
Our Sept 30, 2020 Meet Your Neighbors event drew over 40 PPUABA members.
Health precautions prevented us from having our traditional indoor "Fall Frolic" pot-luck dinner in 2020, so instead we had a socially-distanced outdoor gathering on Underhill Avenue on Sept 30th.
It was a great opportunity to meet new neighbors and re-connect with neighbors we missed seeing as we were unable to hold our block party this spring.
Park Place resident Sigrun Saphire demonstrated how to set up an indoor composting bin. She even held the red wiggler worms in her hands, to the delight of several of the younger onlookers.
The Moustafa family got to take home the completed worm bin. What could possibly go wrong with a new puppy and a bin full of worms in the house?
Park Place resident Susan Metz and District 57 Leader Shaquana Boykin spoke to attendees about voting and poll watching.
Since our event was outdoors, several families brought their pets. Maria, Warren and Indigo from Underhill Avenue brought their pet bird, Cream Puff. (photo credit Matthew Weinstein)
The event drew a group of approximately 40 residents of our PPUABA blocks - some new faces as well as long-term residents. (photo credit: Bruce McInnes)
We collected food pantry items which were donated to 2 local food pantries: Chance for Children, in the Ebbets Field Houses, and CHIPS, in Park Slope.
This banner was created to celebrate our block association's 60th anniversary - and that was 4 years ago!!! We're one of the longest continuously operating block associations in NYC and we're still going strong.