Bringing Neighbors and Friends Together
Started in 2022 by a few North Park neighbors with smokers and a BRILLIANT idea to kickoff an annual North Park Block Party: close the street, feed the block, and get to know everyone who lives on it — and, ideally, anyone who’s part of this street’s daily life, resident or not.
Every year we get the street officially closed with approval from Alderman Hopkins’ office — so from 2pm to 10pm, North Park Ave is ours. Bring food or drinks you want to share with your neighbors, stay as long as you like. This isn’t a fashion show or cooking competition, just a casual BBQ atmosphere! Bring a bag of chips if you can’t cook, we’ll have plenty of food!
Friendly dogs are welcome, tailgate-style games are encouraged, and we plan to have a bounce house and water slide running for the kids. The planning committee will set up a few tents with tables to keep the food and drinks organized.
This isn’t just for the people who live on the street. If someone’s part of how this block actually runs day to day, consider inviting them to this event.
The sign-up sheet on this site helps us see what’s coming and keeps things from getting too doubled up — the more people bring, the better the spread.
We try to schedule this on or around Lollapalooza weekend every year — easy to remember, gives the block a routine to plan around, and that’s exactly why this website exists. And yes, that’s also why we chose this arguably questionable color scheme — consider it Lollapalooza-flavored.
