In July, neighborhood organizations Ocean Incubators and the Ocean Avenue Association separately kicked off a four-month community event series. They have been holding block parties in Ingleside on the same day of the month, at the same time and featuring the same family-friendly activities. And two more are in store.
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In this tale of two block parties, both organizations saw this as an opportunity to bring the neighborhood together. They told The Ingleside Light they hope to work together on community events in the future.
Founder of Ocean Incubators Mike Sorrels, who has put on other community events like the Taste of OMI, wanted to ensure that the excitement for the neighborhood that they created during the pandemic didn’t stop and launched the Holloway Live Summer Series along Holloway and Ashton avenues.
“It was just a chance to, once again, be together with neighbors, meet new friends, meet new people and have a good time and also focus on the small businesses that are right here, which is what Ocean Incubators has always tried to do,” Sorrels said.
The Holloway event offers free ice cream from Sorrels’ new partnership at Cool Guys Market, live music and multiple interactive games like foosball, a large version of Connect Four, one kid-friendly mechanical bull ride and one bounce house. Dalwinder Dhillon, owner of Cool Guys Market, also provided homemade treats like samosas.
Sorrels said they have big plans in the works for the September and October events with the addition of a Bay Area cover band, Halloween-inspired activities and a pizza pop-up from neighborhood wood-fire pizzeria That’s Amore SF at the final event.
A couple blocks away at Ocean and Faxon avenues in the Walgreens parking lot, the Ocean Avenue Association has been hosting its series of events. They partnered with outdoor community, cultural and civic event production company Into The Streets to be a part of their Saturdays In The City series alongside two other neighborhoods in San Francisco.
While they also have live music from DJs and local bands and giant versions of games like jumbo jenga, the association’s version has a bubble machine, a balloon artist and local business pop-up booths like bubble tea shop Purtea and indoor children’s play space Little Oceanauts that offer chances to win coupons to their establishments.
“It’s a welcoming event,” said the association’s Rosendo Betancourt. “There’s going to be a DJ. There’s going to be live music. It’s going to be close to your favorite local businesses. Just come check it out. Give it a chance. There’s going to be some freebies. It’s only going to be improving and improving.”
The next set of events will be on Sept. 24. The last set is scheduled for Oct. 26.
Anne Marie Kristoff (she/her) is a recent graduate from San Francisco State University's journalism program. She enjoys writing about the arts, entertainment and nature.
