Community camaraderie: Gainsboro block party could become annual event – www.roanoke.com

Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

Robert Morris, 83, of northwest Roanoke, dances to music on Saturday in front of the former Claytor Clinic in the Gainsboro neighborhood.

In the old days, people would gravitate to their front porches in the summertime, where they would talk to their neighbors and interact with the community.

"Air conditioning has been our worst enemy, said Bob Clement, neighborhood service coordinator for Roanoke. "When it was invented, everybody started hanging out indoors."

But during the next few weeks, neighborhoods across Roanoke are coming together to pull people outside for block parties and picnics, yard sales and street fairs. These events are in honor of Neighborhood Month, a celebration of community and neighborhood pride hosted by Roanoke's neighborhood organizations.

The Gainsboro neighborhood of northwest Roanoke helped kick off the celebrations Saturday with its first community celebration and block party. Streets were blocked off near the Gainsboro library for free hot dogs, music, face painting and a martial arts show. Free health screenings and voter registration also were available.

"I see a whole lot of people here I haven't seen in a long time," said Calvin Bradshaw, who has been a resident of the Gainsboro neighborhood for 54 years, as he waved to a friend. "Anything like this is good for the neighborhood. It brings people together to talk about things and ways to improve the neighborhood. I wish they'd have more of these events."

In 2003, eight to 10 organizations were participating in National Night Out to fight neighborhood crime every year in August. However, every celebration was on the same night, at the same time, which meant city council members couldn't support all of them and neighborhood residents couldn't attend one another's events.

"I thought, why not do something in the spring where neighborhoods come out, not just to fight crime, but celebrate their accomplishments," Clement said. Roanoke first celebrated Neighborhood Month the next May, with events scattered throughout the month.

Although Gainsboro hasn't had an event like this in years, all ages of neighborhood residents and visitors were out in full force. Children got their faces painted like tigers and butterflies, adults and clowns did line dances together in a cul-de-sac, and balloon animals dotted the crowd.

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Community camaraderie: Gainsboro block party could become annual event - http://www.roanoke.com