Sunday marked the seventh annual Davis Neighbors’ Night Out. Once afternoon peaked, neighborhoods around Davis began to host block parties ranging from various types of potlucks — dessert, BBQ or dinner — to ice cream socials.
About 110 block parties were held across the city. Students, Davis residents and members of the City Council of Davis were in attendance.
“Highlights included visits from [the] UC Davis cheer team, Gunrock and our hallmark, double-decker Unitrans buses,” said Gary Sandy, UC Davis senior executive director of the Office of the Chancellor, in an email. “Each of them toured parties and represented UC Davis. UC Davis Police and [the UC Davis Fire Department] visited two parties on campus, one at West Village and the other at The Colleges [at] La Rue.”
City of Davis Community Partnership Coordinator Stacey Winton said to encourage more UC Davis students to be involved, the city and ASUCD delivered boxes of brownie mix to students in neighborhoods having a party along with a letter from ASUCD requesting the students to make the brownies as well as attend the party.
“Target donated the brownie mix. ASUCD and city staff delivered 112 boxes of brownies to UC Davis students,” Winton said in an email.
Davis residents hosting the potlucks and ice cream socials said their parties were successful, with residents and students intermixing and getting to know each other.
“We had about 25 or so attend, including about eight college students who live in nearby rentals,” said Davis resident Shannah Whithaus in an email. “We put on an ice cream social, which worked well — all the neighborhood kids came out to enjoy cones and sundaes, and we had all kinds of toppings brought by neighbors from all around the block.”
Whithaus said her favorite part of Davis Neighbors’ Night Out was that all the neighbors could get together to meet each other, catch up with folks they didn’t see often and enjoy an afternoon of chit chat while the kids played.
Organizers saw different levels of attendance.
Davis resident Steve Fineberg said in an email that the neighbors had a good time despite the turnout being less than half of what it had been in previous years.
Conversely, Trish Whitcomb, manager at The Colleges at La Rue, said their party was such a success that food ran out. The event was held by Tandem Properties and ASUCD.
“I think our students really enjoyed the event because it was a great opportunity for them to meet their new neighbors,” Whitcomb said in an email. “This event is important because it truly represents the essence of Davis – people care in Davis – about our neighborhoods, our families, our students, our businesses and our university.”
CLAIRE TAN can be reached at city@theaggie.org.
