Photos courtesy of We Love Long Beach.
The third annual Citywide Pumpkin Party is quickly approaching and local non-profit organization We Love Long Beach (WLLB) is actively seeking new host locations for the event, set to take place on Saturday, October 24 from 3:00PM to 5:00PM.
While the event is indeed organized by WLLB, it simply can’t happen without the local residents who volunteer to welcome their neighbors into their humble abodes for the sake of strengthening their communities (and carving out pumpkin guts).
This will be the eighth citywide celebration organized by WLLB since January 2014. Last year’s Citywide Pumpkin Party attracted more than 700 people to 25 different host locations, while recent events such as the Citywide Ice Cream Social in June brought more than 1,800 people out of the woodwork to 60 host locations to indulge in the confection and good conversation with their once-strangers, now neighbors.
The upcoming Citywide Pumpkin Party is expected to near, if not exceed, this number.
“We have found our annual Citywide Pumpkin Party to be one of the most popular and well-attended of all our events,” said Scott Jones, We Love Long Beach co-founder and executive director, in a statement. “The main purpose of this event and the other citywide events is for neighbors to get together to celebrate the arrival of fall, and to get to know one another.”
In May, We Love Long Beach was awarded a $30,000 grant from The Knight Foundation Grant, a fund with the Long Beach Community Foundation, to provide funding for two citywide events, according to the release. The third annual Citywide Pumpkin Party is the first that will benefit from the grant, while the second will be held in early 2016.
WLLB’s hope for these citywide events is to foster hospitality and help neighbors create positive lasting relationships with each other on every block in Long Beach. In October, the third annual #PumpkinLB will connect residents one pumpkin carved at a time.
“The Citywide Pumpkin Party generates this sentiment of friendship and community that fits perfectly into the We Love Long Beach idea of ‘withness,'” said Jones. “We know that when neighbors take the time to know one another and build trust with each other, then community safety, health and well-being increases throughout the city.”
Anyone interested in hosting can contact WLLB at [email protected]. Follow WLLB on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.