A friend of mine in Edmonton had a crazy idea, she decided one cold winter day to invite all of her neighbours over for a pre-Christmas party. She had never done anything like this before, and really didn’t know most of the people who lived on her street. Would they be good company? Would they think she was crazy? So she put out invitations and waited.
On the night of the party, the first words of the first person through the door was, “we had to come over and meet the people who would invite perfect strangers into their house!” It was the start of a great friendship, and most great friendships start with an act of hospitality.
Saturday, April 25th is Neighbour Day. All over, people are finding ways of connecting with the people on their street, and finding ways of making their neighbourhoods better places to live. Neighbour Day is simply like this: we each commit to sticking around our neighbourhood and we find ways to know and enjoy the company of our immediate neighbours.
So in honor of Neighbour Day here in Chestermere, here is a list of inspiring ideas to get you celebrating:
Start planning a block party with your neighbours for sometime this summer, the City of Chestermere has all that you need, just call them.
Welcome that new family on your street; connect with mightyneighbourly.ca and help create a welcoming culture in Chestermere.
Plan a neighbourhood yard or garage sale.
Bucket of sidewalk chalk + all the neighbourhood kids = instant art festival
Host an ‘Open Deck’ this summer and invite your neighbours to your back yard BBQ
Create a neighbourhood music festival; be inspired by porchfest.org
Swap or give away some home-made baking. My neighbour had me at ‘butter-tart.’
Make a tool library by creating a list of tools from among your neighbours that you’re willing to share together.
Set up a neighbourhood sport tournament, like baseball or Scottish caber toss (on second thought, maybe we should wait on the caber toss).
Explore geocaching.com, go hunting for one or make your own neighbourhood cache.
Coordinate a doggy meet-and-greet in your local park
Host a dessert night and invite your neighbours over.
Support a local business, or two.
Beautify your corner of Chestermere, clean up garbage and plant a flower.
Everyone loves a lemonade stand, set one up!
Surprise your neighbours with a kind gesture or gift.
Take pictures of your neighbourhood and celebrate where you live by sharing your photos online.
Insert your awesome idea here:
