I recently read a proposal here for more parades and festivals. My concern is that we often get hung up on the "big idea" festivities, which can prove incredibly difficult to create and manage. And let's not forget that First Fridays didn't start out as a giant city-organized event, but rather an unofficial collaboration amongst the original downtown arts community members and businesses along Roosevelt Row (at least that's what I recall).

I'm of the opinion that anything that brings our community members out of their houses to interact is a good thing and, while I don't doubt that the city agrees, some people might not know. A while back, I helped plan a GAIN event for my block watch. When I mentioned that I'd like to do more of these kinds of events -- possibly even closing off the street to vehicular traffic for neighborhood BBQs or pot lucks -- I found a discouraging requirement through the city's website for permits, etc. However, our police liaison at the time laughed it off and suggested that we should simply call our community action officer (Officer Mario at the time -- great guy, btw), mention free food, and ask that he bring some traffic barricades.

Can it really be this easy? I can't see why not! So what if the city were to encourage this and create some sort of simple one-stop shop to register such events in 15 minutes or less. My guess is that the successful ones might grow and provide both tangible and intangible benefits to our neighborhoods and residents.