Fun Fridays’ Sizzle and Pop – A Recipe for Community Vitality

Written by Tim Buckley, August 2023

“Nobody is odd here; nobody is less than. Everyone feels safe, open to giving and receiving.”

It was the summer of love, 1969, culminating with a blowout August weekend at Woodstock. The vibe of the time: music filled the air, anything was possible, and everyone was your brother and sister.

Fun Friday events have created that same vibe, but without the drugs.

Now in its third summer, and being celebrated in two locations, Fun Fridays are attracting hundreds of families and more than 500 people together to play, learn and share a meal in a relaxed party atmosphere.

Woodstock was an expression of a generation seeking peace. Fun Fridays are perhaps more consequential, a foundation for building resilient neighborhoods where all children grow up in a safe, stable, nurturing home.

I got a last-minute email from Leslye Garcia, one of the bilingual organizers for the neighborhood councils. Because of the anticipated sun and heat, the set up for Fun Friday’s 38 participating partners had changed. We were being housed on a concrete pad (cool) under a large roof (very cool) while those attending the event would wander through like it were a farmers’ market, and then have a meal at picnic tables on the grass under the dappled shade of mature trees on the grounds of St. Edward Catholic Church in Keizer.

When I arrived to help with set up, Neighborhood Family Council members, proudly wearing imprinted tee shirts with the neighborhood family council logo, were unloading 30 cases of bottled water and hundreds of pounds of ice for the dozen water stations around the site. A professional kitchen with grilles and warming ovens were already fired up. Cartons of chips and coolers filled with meat sat beside tables of fresh fixings. Among the army of women volunteers were a smattering of men, adolescents and teens who pitched in – distributing water, staging the food tables, putting on tablecloths, setting up resource booths and the public address system, greeting early arrivals and arranging activities, including a water slide, for kids, and a volleyball court for everybody.

The volunteers had secured thousands of dollars in giveaways: gift cards, toys, bicycle safety equipment and even a couple of tickets donated by the YMCA for kids to attend summer camp.

Vice Chairman of the Kennedy Neighborhood, Ron Berkley, was helping set up the array of grills while his niece and nephew were a blur of helpfulness, breaking ice clumps into cubes, filling tubs with bottled water, setting out chairs, lifting and carting the heavier loads to ease the load for seniors like me.

Everyone was upbeat, busy, and full of humor. While CBEL director Jim Seymour hefted bags of ice and cases of water occasionally aided by his grandson, Jim’s mother Mary Jane provided bright conversation from her wheelchair. She asked about each person who stopped to chat, and gladly answered questions about her many years in northern Washington, where her husband logged and worked in construction near the Neah Bay Indian reservation, just across from Vancouver Island.

By four o’clock, the place was already milling with visitors, and the crowd continued to grow until well after five. By then, the kitchen crew had served many hundreds of hamburgers with all the fixings. A fellow manning the “We Flourish Together” booth next to me made the comment that if you closed your eyes and just listened to the sound of Fun Friday, it reminded him of a waterfall at the head of a lovely river, sparkling in the sunlight. I laughed, but tried it, and found it true.

Among the dozens of resource booths was a credit union, a community college and university, the YMCA, the Boys & Girls Club, early learning opportunities for youngsters and training for parents, cross cultural organizations, counselors, school principals, Keizer’s police department, state agencies, a girl scout troop, and the local Head Start organization. Like a county fair, many had games for participants, with prizes, treats, and toys. A “passport” stamped by the resource people at each booth was the way everyone received raffle tickets for the grand finale giveaway.

While I sat at my resource booth (Free Empathy), I was delighted as dozens of parents with strollers came by. Children of all ages darted through the aisles while outside, squeals of laughter and surprise came from the kids now soaking wet from the water slide. Young ones translated for seniors: “Do you have something you’d like to share?; Tiene algo que compartir?”

Among those who sat down and talked about their life while I listened was a single woman who had recently arrived from California. She was excited about the potential she sees here in Oregon, a fresh start and a new job. With light green hair extensions making braids in her jet-black hair, and a host of tattoos, she thanked me for listening and being interested and then told me how she looks forward to rain after decades in a dryer climate. She offered how mist and rain promotes hair growth, how balding men like me might benefit.  

Just then, Ron Berkley’s young son came up, out of breath. He held two sample cups of purple-colored fruit smoothie that he had made on an exercise bicycle connected to a blender just behind us at a Salem Health booth. “Want to try something really healthy,” he said.  I noticed that a line of youngsters now waited their turn to make the next batch of smoothie on that same bike.

The vibe was partly due to my volunteering for the behind-the-scenes crew. There’s a palpable unity of purpose here, a sense of belonging. But really, the families who came added the special flavor: different languages and cultures, a four-generation representation of who we are, all expressing some joy, sharing new stories, creating trust, and endless possibility for healing.

Nobody is odd here; nobody is less than. Everyone feels safe, open to giving and receiving. This is the vibe that Fun Fridays create and exude. Mutual acknowledgement is the cornerstone in each neighborhood’s plan for vitality. This is at the heart of CBEL’s plan for civic engagement and building community resilience.