Manning Drive Block Party FAQ
Q: What is the history of the Block Party?
A: The first Block Party grew out of a house party at Robert and Nancy Vaughan’s home in 1985. At that time, Jeff Wagner declared (probably following a few beers) that "This is the First Annual Manning Drive Block Party." The following year, the party moved down the street to the front yard of Jeff and Nancy Leopold’s home.
For the next 10 years, Jeff organized the party, enlisting the help of various neighbors. When David and Michaela Barnes move into the place across the street from Nancy and Jeff in 1996, Jeff assured David that his deed contained a special covenant requiring hom to be the co-manager of the Block Party. Although David could never locate that covenant, he acquiesced. From then on, Jeff and David have been your unimpeachable Block Party Managers. At that point, we also expanded and formalized the invitation list and process, and the party gradually grew to its current size.
The Block Party came into its current form in about 2003. Before then, preparation for the party consisted of a Saturday evening raid on all the neighboring homes for lawn furniture and grills, which we dragged over to use for the party. That was followed by a post-party Sunday evening alt-raid, when we replaced all the borrowed furniture. We frequently got everything back to the right place.
When Tom and Winnie Keon moved into the neighborhood in 2002, Tom (who is the Principal & President of Ridgewells Catering), immediately recognized the party’s need for a style face lift, and graciously volunteered to supply proper tables, chairs, linens, grills and ice. He continued to do that for many years until Ridgewells began using subcontractors for its equipment in 2016. Since then, we've rented this equipment ourselves.
Q: Who do you invite to the Block Party?
A: There are two main criteria. In general, we invite:
• Every family living on Manning Drive, including those on the corner lots at Glenbrook and Fairfax; and
• Every family using the Bethesda Elementary bus stop at 5126 Manning, regardless of address.
Beyond that, it gets a little complicated. We continue to invite anyone who used to live on Manning Drive or go to the bus stop. That means we include several close-by families, even though they no longer meet either of the primary criteria. Finally, there are several families who have a long association with the Block Party for various other reasons, and we continue to invite them as well.
Nevertheless, for anyone who doesn’t meet one of the two primary criteria, we stop inviting them if they are no longer interested in attending (for example, if they neither RSVP nor attend for several years).
Q: Can I invite friends or other neighbors to come?
A: No. The invitation is for your immediate family. If you have relatives or friends staying with you at the time of the party, you are more than welcome to bring them along. Just let us know in the RSVP. But, we try to keep attendance at the party stable and manageable, which allows us to handle the costs and logistics. Over the last 15 years, the attendance has been reliably about 110 people, and that’s about all we can handle.
Q: What happens if it rains on the day of the party?
A: Until 2018, there had never been bad weather for the Block Party, and we believed that this would continue indefinitely. We have only postponed the party one time (about 10 years ago). On the morning the party was scheduled, it was raining. It had rained the entire night before, and all of the weather forecasters (including the National Weather Service) were unanimous in predicting that it would rain heavily and continuously throughout the whole day and into the night. So, at 9 AM, we postponed it. However, by 10:30 AM the clouds had vanished and it was beautiful for the rest of the day. We learned our lesson. But, our good luck finally ran out in 2018 and we came up with a solution that seemed to work. Of course, we always plan a rain date just in case. If it looks bad enough, we can always postpone it.
Q: Do you need any more help with anything related to the Block Party?
A: Not really. Jeff and David do most of the planning an organizational work. Lots of others pitch in with set up, cooking, take down, and clean up. It’s a testament to the great neighborhood we live in that people are always willing to help. In particular, we appreciate the support of our spouses, Nancy Leopold and Michaela Barnes, who shoulder a lot of the work and put up with us while we're in Block Party prep mode.
Q: How about having some live entertainment or other activities?
A: We’ve had several kinds of live entertainment over the years (e.g., a live band, a juggler) and they have been fine. But, most people seem to really enjoy the opportunity to get together and visit with neighbors. There is always a moon bounce, a Corn Hole game, and sidewalk chalk, not to mention the very competitive water balloon toss game. Nevertheless, we are always open to other ideas. If you have an idea for something that you think the majority of the attendees would enjoy, let us know using the Official Manning Drive email address: ManningDriveBlockParty@gmail.com.
Q: Can I use your Block Party email list to send information/news to my neighbors, or will you send it for me?
A: No. We use the email list solely for purposes of the Block Party. Most of us get way too much junk email as it is, and we don’t want to contribute to that. We have occasionally sent out notices of particular interest to the people in the neighborhood (a neighbor passing away, an immediate safety concern), but those are very rare events. There is an existing community resource for posting neighborhood notices. Check out the Edgemoor Citizens Network (EC-Net), an email discussion list on Google Groups for people in and around the Edgemoor neighborhood (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/Edgemoor). You can also join Edgemoor Nextdoor, a commercial neighborhood social network (neighborhood https://edgemoormd.nextdoor.com).
Q: How can you keep the price so low?
A: This is not a question anyone asks any more because we don't. For many years, we were able to charge $6 a head. Well, that was then and this is now. With prices up and no free tables, chairs, linen, and grills, we're up to $13 in 2022. Still, we always try to keep costs down the best we can by shopping well and using cheap labor (like ourselves and other volunteers). Beyond that, we have always simply tallied up all the costs each year to figure out how much to charge. Some years we’ve had a small surplus, and some years we’ve had a small deficit. Hopefully, it will be many years again before we have to think about another price hike. If anyone is concerned about the finances and bookkeeping, they are free to volunteer as our accountant.
