The block party on 22nd and Bartlett streets held Saturday June 19 was, in the words of Jeremy Shaw, one of the main organizers, “a tremendous success.”
From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Seth Augustus, Diana Gameros, Santos Perdidos and King City played four distinct sets of music, all powered by the bicycle sound system of “Rock the Bike.” Volunteer members from the audience continuously pedaled to give the sound to the electric mike and instruments.
All revenues from the event were geared towards the start up costs of the Mission Community Market, a farmers market expected to launch Thursday, July 15th.
“This was really the start of something new,” said Jeremy. “It’s only the beginning and we probably have to do more fundraising, but it put us in a good position.”
The coming together of volunteers from the Mission, the bands who played for free, the local business who donated their food revenues and prizes for the raffle, plus the volunteering of the Rock the Bike guys, all made this event possible.
“When four fantastic different varieties of music comes to support you,” said Paula Tejeda, another volunteer organizer. “It feels great, and this was really moving.”
The Block Party saw dancing, both from people in the audience who rocked out to the bands’ eclectic sounds, and from the animated Capoeira troupe. Two of the audience dancers commented on the party; a man who danced all throughout King City said he thought it was “fabulous, like a mix between today and yesterday.” Another dancer, after sitting off on a slower song said panting, “I love it. I’ll be back every time they have it.”
“You cannot fix the world, but you can work at this level, enriching culture and business,” Paula said as the last band played their set. “It’s about people doing things in a different way.”
Looking around, it was evident that most of the vendors and people involved were connected to business incubators like La Cocina, and other non -profits working to better the community’s economic health. The plan for the farmer’s market is a step in the direction of community empowerment, supporters say, involving small entrepreneurs as well as the larger community—project that is both ambitious and promising.
The Mission Community Market plan came out of the Mission Streetscape, a community-based urban planning process. Out of the several meetings that took place in the past year, the plan for the market was the one people wanted the most. Amnon Ben-Pazi, an organizer at the event, explained the idea behind the Streetscape planning process, “is to think about how can we re-imagine our streets- everyone included local business, artists,” he said, “in the market you’ll see a sliver of what’s going on in the Mission.” Amnon reiterated the sentiment that came from those meetings, “we want a community space where Valencia meets the Mission. The cultures are parallel and they need to mix. The location of the market spans two areas with completely different populations, it is right in between the two coming together.”
The plans for the market’s four main goals: healthy eating, economic development, community programs and more public space are all ways to tackle prevalent issues faced by members in the community. The lack of markets where affordable fresh produce is available, contributes to unhealthy eating habits. A farmer’s market creates a channel for healthy eating combating the problem of elevated levels of hospitalization for diabetes, elevated levels of congestive heart failure and coronary atherosclerosis, as stated by the Mission Community Market Plan.
The market will be a space that is commercial but also social, where more farmers-market style food is available. It will have prepared foods so that it will also be a place to go for dinner, for local vendors to sell their products, and for children to play.
“It will be, one week soccer, the next Capoeira. In essence a safe space for kids,” said Jessika Fruchter, a volunteer interested in the youth programming component of the market.
Having more after school programs for youth, like the block party’s mural project, a mural that was open for anyone to come and paint on, will be a way for creating a “safe space for community building and self-inquiry,” Jessika said. “Here there’s less programming than in private schools, and less resources, the market is an opportunity to have more youth arts outreaching, in a way that is about getting kids to express themselves. The amount of interest shown has been outstanding,” she added. People were already asking if the mural project was going to happen again soon.
“The event was a good, small way for the Mission community to see the work that non-profits are currently doing in the area,” said Jeremy. “But more importantly it was a great day for the community.”
It was clear that both volunteers and people who walked up the street agreed that events like these are important to the wellbeing of the community. A passerby commented that the event “could have been done later,” she stated. “I know because I live here. People like to take it easy in the mornings.” Despite the timing, the people present showed their support for the upcoming community market—and public support, is a crucial starting point for its development.