Block Party 2007 Pictures:
Thanks to everyone for another great block party! Here are some links to pictures from the party. If you have pictures, please email me so I can post them here.
From Brent Lightner: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8890377@N05/tags/duddington/show/
From Drew McDermott: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcdermott/sets/72157600351654804/
From Scott Day: http://www.flickr.com/gp/15393605@N00/425Poi
The rest of this page, as it was on the day of the party, exists below for posterity...
The block party is June 9th, 2007!
Block Party Blog:
6/7/07 - Stinko Trees
Did you know that every (well, most) streets in DC are assigned to a specific type of tree? (Next time you're out walking, notice the lack of diversity of trees on any given block). That's why we have all gingko trees on our street. There are male and female gingko trees. The ones with yellow dots are female--they're the ones that produce those awful-smelling berries (and as most of you recently found out, they're marked yellow so that the city can come through and spray those trees in a (usually futile) effort to prevent fruit growth. If you ever try to get rid of a tree in DC, you'd find out that these trees have more rights than we do!
6/6/07 - A River Runs through It
The houses on the South side of Duddington have basements. The northern side of the street houses do not. Why, you ask? Because there is an underground river running under the northern row of houses. Three days! I can almost taste the pig!!
6/5/07 - Naked Neighbors
One of your neighbors sunbathes nude on their rooftop. Thanks to Google's satellite imagery, this person has been outed. Can you find him/her? Click here for the satellite map. Only 4 more days!!!
6/4/07 - Lord Duddington
Today's interesting Duddington tidbit: There used to be a manor house in the middle of our street, owned by Lord Duddington. Turns out that the city planner L'enfant and Duddington were rivals. So L'enfant, having the power to draw city streets basically anywhere he wanted (as you are all painfully aware), decided to put a street striaght through the middle of Lord Duddington's Manorhouse--just to annoy him. It worked. The manorhouse was torn down and our street was created. 5 more days!
6/3/07 - Red Light Duddington
Today's interesting Duddington tidbit: Did you know that Duddington was once the red light district of DC? In general "Loduh" (lower Duddington) was the brothel area. Upper Duddington (they're not cool enough to have their own nickname) was more of the speakeasy part of the street. Many of you may noticed the red light in 134 a few months back. You thought it was for the holidays, didn't you? It wasn't. The guys in 134 brought back the olden days and operated a speakeasy out of their house for a couple of weeks! 6 Days and Counting!!
6/2/07 - The Chesapeak Bungalow Boar
A hunting expidition set out today for the untamed areas of the Eastern Shore to attemp to find the reclusive Chesapeak Bungalow Boar. Rumor has it that this is the best tasting pig in the land. This fearless group has 7 more days to catch one of these elusive creatures for the pig roast! God speed, gentlement. God speed.
6/1/07 - Flag flown over Capitol for Duddington Day
One of our 'connected' residents has arranged for an American Flag to be flown over the US Capitol building on the day of our Block Party. The flag will be raffeled off as one (of over thirty) prizes for our raffle!
5/21/07 - Last call for T-shirt orders (but we're still accepting donations)!
T-shirt orders must be placed by the end of the day on May 22nd so that there is time to get them printed and delivered in time for the block party. For real this time. I'm placing the order on the 23rd. If you're not buying a T-shirt, we'll still be taking donations from residents and guests at any point up until the day of the party (we count on some late donations to cover some of our expenses now.) Just click the link below. Thanks!
5/16/07 - T-shirt order deadline extended
If you'd still like a T-shirt, it's not too late! Use the 'donate' button below to order.
5/15/07 - Donations and T-shirt orders due today (specify your T-shirt order at the bottom of the donation form. T-shirts are $13 each)!
5/14/07 - Get your donations in!!
We've collected a total of $440 in donations so far this year. To give you an idea, last year we were at about $3200 by now. To say we're falling short is a bit of an understatement. The deadline for donations is tomorrow (of course, we'll take donations after that deadline, but tomorrow is when we take a look at our budget and start to make some tough decisions about what to cut since we simply don't have the funds. Please get your donations in ASAP!!)
4/25/07 - Get on our mailing list!
If you're not on our email list yet, please sign up (by clicking here). We do 2 or 3 actual flyers. We do more like 10 emails with all the little details that are nice to have. So if you're not on our list, you miss out. For example, if you were not on our email list last year, you missed invitations to: a free scotch tasting, a snow barbeque, block updates (such as security concerns), and more. It's too much effort to do paper flyers each time, so we're trying to get 100% email. Please sign up so you don't miss out!
4/25/07 - Official Resident Invitation Distributed
Click here to download a copy of the invitation.
4/16/07 - Planning Meeting
Thanks to everyone who showed up and to everyone who emailed with their willingness to volunteer and get involved. We had some new faces this year (particularly from streets other than Duddington)!
For the most part the block party will be business as usual. However, there were a few noteworthy discussions that I'll list below:
- A 'birthday' committee was added this year in light of the block being 100 years old. The T-shirt will also have a birthday theme.
- There was concern that A: we're getting too many friends of friends and that most of those types of guests end up being party mooches. There will be an effort this year to let residents know that this is not a public party--that guests are more than welcome but that they should be good friends and family.
- Along those same lines, the guest donation was raised from $10 to $15 because first of all, we lose money at $10 when you consider all that we do and also because guests don't seem to contribute their fair share to the potluck dinner.
- Speaking of the potluck dinner, it was also mentioned that not nearly everyone is contributing, and those that are, are often bringing enough for a family of four (despite the fact they may have several guests there.) Folks will see (via emails and fliers) a push overall to curb 'guest abuse' and to make sure that those guests who do come pitch in--just like the rest of us.
- Last year there were games of beer pong going on. At one point, a 12 year old girl was playing with a group. (No, she wasn't drinking, but would you want your 12 year old playing beer pong with a bunch of people??) Anyway, it was decided that this is not the type of party that we want this to be. So all drinking games have been banned from the street. Along the same lines, no one should be shooting the tequila from the margarita bar. Again, that's not what this party is about.
- The raffle was a big success last year, so we're going to do it again. This year, we're looking to expand it with more prizes. Plus, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Garfield Park.
Fundraising Progress
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--$5500
--$5000 (goal!)
--$4500
--$4000
--$3500
--$3000
--$2500
--$2000
--$1500
--$1000
--$500
--$0 |
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Total Funds: $4947.48
(including $1563 from last year)
as of 10:41am on 6/8.
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The schedule of events:
- FRIDAY by 6pm: Move your car!
All the cars must be cleared from Duddington Place by order of the Capitol Police!! Since this is a permitted party and the police officially close down the street, IT WILL BE TOWED if you don't move it! Especially if you won't be here for the party, make sure you move your car or give your keys to a neighbor so we don't have to tow your car!
- FRIDAY at 6pm: Street Cleaning
This year, we have arranged for the city to bring a street cleaner through on Friday evening (which is why it's critical that you move your car before then) and then a 'flusher' will come Saturday morning to wash down the street. If you want to sweep in front of your house, do so before Friday so that you can sweep the debris in the street and let the street cleaner pick it up.
- SATURDAY at 7am: Start Pig Roast
For those early risers wanting to see how you go about cooking 150 pounds of swine, c'mon out and laugh at whatever kind of contraption we come up with for cooking the hog. This is an all day event to be held in the middle of the street. The pig will be served in traditional 'pig pickin' fashion at dinner time (i.e., we'll drench it in the secret sauce and you can tear tender meat right off the bone (or for the more civilized, we'll serve it to you if you prefer.)
- 8:30-10am: Clean Street and Decorate
Everyone is asked to do what they can to tidy their area in front of their house. Also, we’ll string banners and flags, put up past year T-Shirts, and this year we'll have tiki torches lining the street to help add to the party atmosphere. There will also be a volley ball net set up for any pick-up games during the day. We need lots of hands to help set up this morning, so PLEASE, come out and offer to help. It's actually half the fun since half the block is out there too!
- 10-12pm: Pony Rides for the kids
Ponies will carry the kids up and down the street. Bring your cameras and carrots!
- 12pm: Fire Trucks come / Hot Dog Lunch
The fire and police department are part of the party tradition. They bring their trucks down, hose down the street, and if we're lucky, they'll open up the hydrant so we can play in the water. We always invite them back for dinner to say thanks.
For anyone interested in a mid-day snack, drop by the pig cooker for some hot dogs!
- 1:00pm: Festivities Start
Come to the center of the block to mingle with your neighbors. There will be plenty of beer and soft drinks available, but feel free to bring your own if you're picky. If you prefer to lounge on chairs, we ask that you bring them to the center area and congregate there instead of in front of your house, as it's more conducive to the 'group party' atmosphere.
- 1:00pm (and all day long): Games for Kids
Pools, chalk and other activities for kids!
- 3:00pm: Wine Tasting
We'll have a fine selection of wines on hand for sampling and drinking.
- 4:00pm: Say Cheese. Group Picture!
Everyone gather around for a group picture. (There are too many people for us to wait for stragglers, so it's up to you to be outside with the group and in formation at 4:30 sharp!) Note that we will make the pictures available online. You'll be able to order any size prints you want. This way we don't need to pose for 40 minutes while someone snaps through 50 individual cameras. (Note, you're encouraged to keep your camera handy all day and snap away at anything that looks interesting. For those with digital cameras, please make sure you get the files to Brent in 135 (brent@taoti.com) so he can post them to the website for everyone to browse and/or order prints.)
- 4:30pm: Raffle (immediately following the picture)
All day long we’ll be selling tickets ($2 each or 3 for $5). We expect to have over 30 prizes from local merchants. With so many prizes, your odds of winning are pretty good! A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Garfield Park. The rest go back into our kitty so that we have a headstart fundraising for next year. YOU MUST BE PRESENT TO WIN!
- 5:00pm: Dinner Time
As mentioned, we'll be serving the pig for dinner. We'll also be providing hot dogs and hamburgers for everyone. Everyone is asked to bring some sort of side dish (appetizers, deserts, salads, casseroles, etc.) We will set up tables set up in the middle of the street at 5pm to put your stuff on but not before 5, so please don't bring your stuff out early. Please label your dishes with your house number so we know where to return things to if you're not there when we close down (or better yet, come get them before you leave so that someone doesn't have to wash 50 casserole dishes sunday morning and then go around returning things all day). Also, if you are inviting non-residents (which you're highly encouraged to do), please ask them to also contribute something to the dinner so that there is plenty for all.
- 7-11pm: Music and Dancing
We'll have our favorite DJ back to start us off with some fun music for the kids and then mix it up a bit for everyone else. Note that our permit officially expires at 10pm, which means from then on out, we need to keep it down a bit.
- 10:00-11:00pm: The Great Duddington Parking Spot Race
We need to clear the street of any obstructions, clean up and start to tone things down a bit. You don't have to call it a night, but you need to take the party to the sidewalks or inside and keep it down. The best part is watching everyone scramble to get their cars back on the street as soon as possible. After all, you don't want to have to walk a whole block or two to your car the next day, so the only rational thing to do is try to beat everyone else on the street to get that perfect spot in front of your house!! ;-)
- Sunday, noon: Walk of Shame and Cleanup
If you get up early enough you can see all sorts of interesting people leaving random homes with that "what did I do???" look on their faces. (The best ones are the ones where said people walk out of one house and into another on the same street ;-) But seriously, we NEED people to come out sunday to help clean up. Tables need to go back, kegs need to be returned, garbage needs to be collected, flags need to be taken down, etc., etc. Please don't let this fall to the same handful of people that get stuck with it every year. Do your part. If you partied, it's your responsibility to come out on Sunday and help with the aftermath. The more that help, the less everyone has to do.
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