If you drove around Oak Park on Halloween evening you were likely surprised by the jigsaw puzzle of block parties dotting the village.
These fun and community building events aren’t just for summer days anymore.
In fact, says the village, Halloween is high on the sign up list when blocks apply for permits each spring. The village limits block parties to 30 on any one day. And so there were 30 Halloween block parties again this year.
This year with worries about families running short of food as the shuttered federal government chose to not pay out SNAP benefits, at least two Oak Park block parties pivoted to adding a food drive or food offering component to their festivities.
On the 500 and 600 blocks of Highland, neighbors originally planned to shut down the blocks for a typical block party with a Halloween focus. They hired Zemi Coffee Cart, invited a tarot card reader, and all hands were on deck to make popcorn, hot dogs and S’mores.
The Tuesday before Halloween Jen Di Nicola came up with the idea of having a food pantry as a last-minute addition to the block party. Di Nicola works for an area agency for aging that keeps track of SNAP benefits for older adults. As she puts it, “I’m hyper-aware of the difficulties people are going through right now. Given the situation with our neighbors and the situation with SNAP, this seemed like a good way to do something.”
She emailed the neighborhood block list and was met with plenty of support.
Neighbor Rose Kirschner says, “With SNAP uncertainty looming, it seemed like a good idea.”
The neighborhood used some of their block party funds and set up a marketing campaign that consisted of a few texts to Longfellow parent groups, a post on Facebook’s Oak Park Working Moms, and plenty of posters and chalk-drawn signs.
On Halloween they set up three tables for food donations, along with a few bins placed outside of homes. Kirschner says the intent was to donate any leftover items to the Girl Scout’s Beyond Hunger Food Drive taking place the week following Halloween.
“There was very little to donate,” she said. “Almost everything was taken. Clearly, there was a need in the community.”
The informal slogan for the food drive was “Take what you need, leave what you can.”
As Kirschner was setting up, a mother with two young children stopped by and asked if she could really take anything. Another mother stopped by with a wagon and children in tow to donate non-perishable food items.
While the night brought together the residents of the two blocks, Di Nicola and Kirschner say it also brought in a lot of people from the surrounding community, noting that kids in costumes trick-or-treating and being able to safely walk on the closed off street added to a feeling of festivity.
Di Nicola can see making the food drive an annual part of the Halloween fun if the need persists. “It’s something people on our block value. Our block is really good about rallying around ideas. We’ve got a lot of civic-minded people on our block,” she said.
Many blocks take advantage of the last days of fall to schedule an off-season block party, and Halloween is a popular night to close down the streets and gather, whether the street is officially closed or not. And in Oak Park, Halloween is a celebration that brings together neighbors from within and outside of Oak Park.
On Elizabeth Court, local Realtors Chris Curran and his mother Greer Haseman held their second annual Halloween hot dog extravaganza. Curran says he’s inspired by Tony Robbin’s partnership with Feeding America, and their “The Next Billion Meals Challenge,” which aims to provide a billion meals to people facing hunger in America by 2035.
He points out that candy is expensive and so readily available on Halloween, that the motivation was to feed kids and adults real food.
Knowing that a lot of his visitors would be children with smaller appetites, Curran served half hot dogs to cut back on waste. This year, he handed out over 400 half-foot dogs.
Curran loves a summer block party and thinks that bringing that energy to a new season is a great tradition. While the street wasn’t officially closed this year, Elizabeth Court is a dead-end street that tends to draw a lot of trick-or-treaters from neighboring communities.
Next year, he’d like to close the block off to cars, and Curran is already brainstorming about more elaborate food offerings. “Plans will be to include a few veggie dogs and some sausages too! I really like to cook so the process is super fun, making all the yummy bun-filled bites for the kids and adults. Every single visitor was so excited and appreciative of the yummy snack to help them get through the evening,” he says.
The rules and regs of block parties
Oak Park is famous for its summer block parties. Every summer weekend, the village becomes an obstacle course for drivers and a playground of fun for residents. Bounce houses, local bands, squirt guns, chalk drawings, donuts, taco trucks and beverages for young and old draw residents together.
The village permits blocks to request two dates for block parties each year, and states on the village website that block parties are “encouraged as a way to build community spirit, meet neighbors and have fun.”
Per village rules, a block is limited to two block events, which can be a block party, block sale or combination of the two each year. Village-wide, the total number of events is limited to 30 per weekend. In order to officially close the block, a block party and/or block sale request must include a petition signed by at least 10 separate addresses on the block, or a majority of residents on a smaller block. (More on block parties here: https://www.oak-park.us/Community/Events-and-Activities/Block-Parties-and-Sales)
