Location: Goudy Square Park
Date: Wednesday, September 11, 2013; 5:00-7:00 pm
I had lived in the Gold Coast for a
year and the location of this One Brick event was literally a block or two away
from my old apartment. There was a block
party, sorry, “Most Elegant Block Party”
that was being held and while the adults would be indulging in everything that
the evening had to offer, the children were going to have their own little event happening in the neighboring Goudy Square Park and which would be staffed by One
Brick, amongst other supporters. We
would be helping out with various activities such as arts and crafts, some
games and then finishing off with clean-up.
In doing so, we would be helping the ‘Gold
Coast Neighborhood Association’ and according to the One Brick website, “Gold Coast Neighbors is an all-volunteer
neighborhood organization whose mission is to serve as a forum for community
issues, to foster a sense of belonging among neighbors, and to promote safety,
preservation and beautification in the Gold Coast neighborhood.” And to think of it that I lived there for a
year and had never even been aware.
Well, better late than never I suppose.
It was an extremely hot day and
the electricity grid was in emergency in several States. It meant that I had been busy and was in
fact still responding to phone messages and emails when I took the bus to the
Gold Coast and arrived at the intersection of Astor and Goethe streets to find
that the block party had already commenced.
I asked at a tent where the children’s area was and they had no
clue. I was finally directed to the nearby
park where we hoped that the kids’ program was being conducted. Fortunately, I saw Wilson carrying chairs as
I walked through the entrance and knew that I was in the right place. I helped him with the their set-up
and looked around to see what activities were going on. There was an arts and crafts area that was
staffed by One Brick, and where the kids would be making masks, caps and
crowns, as well as designing brown paper bags.
The organizers also wanted us to staff a ball toss game in a sandlot, as
well as a bag toss station. It wasn’t a
big park - more like a play area - and these activities, along with the usual
slides and swings took up most of the park’s space. However, at one end there was a group of
girls from some other organization setting up a temporary performance area
where they would be doing a skit to entertain the kids. From the looks of it, we were sure to show
the kids a splendid time.
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| Bag Toss |
We had some of the One Brick
regulars in attendance, including Heather, Michelle and my new buddy Charles
Paul. While most of our crew was at the
arts and crafts station, I went over to the bags toss station, along with
another volunteer who would be on a second board. I
had helped out Make-A-Wish at a bag toss competition earlier this year and
people had taken that contest very seriously.
Today we were dealing with little kids and the idea was to give kids one
ticket for each of the three bags that went into the hole. Plus, if they got all three bags on the
board, it would be worth another ticket.
The kids could then exchange these tickets for prizes. The way I saw it, our main intention was to find
ways to give tickets to the kids who attempted the game and ensure that no one was leaving empty-handed. We placed the boards and then drew a box in
which the kids were supposed to stand and toss, but as the kids started coming
to play, nobody was following the box rule.
Also, some of them were so small that it would have been virtually
impossible for them to find enough strength to reach the hole. So, many kids were tossing from close and some
were even walking up to the board and dropping the bags in; and I was more than
happy to give them the tickets. In fact,
even for some who missed, I would give them the tickets and whisper, “Don’t tell anyone.” Many of the older
kids were coming repeatedly and demanding tickets for sinking the bags in the
hole. Considering that I had a huge roll of
tickets to begin with, I gave it out to most of them. There was also a spunky little girl who came
and proclaimed “I am good at this.” “Prove
it”, I responded. And she did,
looking at me haughtily as she collected her tickets. Then she went and did the same at the other
station. Aah kids, it’s always fun.
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| Yeah...that's me |
I was relieved from my position
after some time and so had the opportunity to go and watch the performance that
was happening at the other end of the park.
It was a group of girls with several hats and they were performing a
short story, changing hats as they enacted different characters. All of the kids were sitting in the front row
and seemed completely enthralled in the story.
I was joined by Charles Paul and I told him that we should do this
performance next year and in his usual inimitable style, he agreed. I had asked Heather for a crown and she had
made one for me. Wearing it, I went over
to help out at the arts and crafts table and all the kids there were engrossed in
decorating their own crowns. Everyone
wanted to spell their names on it and the difficulty was in locating all the
alphabets. We were running out of ‘A’s’ and when I tried to use an
inverted ‘V’ on one girls crown, she
called me out. So much for trying to get
one past these kids!
Our One Brick volunteers were
getting into the spirit of this event and were now wearing masks and crowns
themselves. Michelle made a mask for me
and upon wearing it, I had zero peripheral vision. I spent the remainder of the evening trying
to guess what was happening around me since I could only see the people who
were directly in front. In any case, it
was loads of fun and we were slightly disappointed when it was time to
end. The kids had been very creative and
we even sent some kids home with supplies that they could use to make things on their own. After packing up we were given
some coupons to use at the block party and a few of us got pizza and sat down to
chat. Well, with Charles Paul and Wilson
around, we weren't short on topics to discuss.
It was the anniversary of 9/11 and so we toasted the heroes from that
day and ever since. We stayed for some time
and later, as Michelle and I walked back together part of the way, she made me wear my crown and mask. That
drew a lot of smiles from the people on the street and why not It had been a hot day alright. But we had just come back from the coolest kids’
party. No harm in showing off a bit!
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