How is it September already, neighbors? I can’t believe it’s here, but the final Porch Concert of the year is upon us and will not be held on a porch at all. Taste of Western gathers us at County Fair instead on Sept. 12, and for one night a neighborhood mainstay becomes the place where summer hands the season over to fall.
The Porch Concert Series began the way so much of summer does here, with neighbors bringing chairs onto front lawns and strangers turning into familiar faces by the second song. It feels right to close it at County Fair, a place integrated into the everyday life of our community. The Porch Concerts have always been about the same simple things: a little music, a warm evening and each other.
What a summer it has been. After the Home Tour, we kicked off the summer with our Memorial Day Parade’s 100th anniversary and the Ridge Run, both in May. We started our Porch Concert Series in June. Then, the Garden Walk in July opened gates and back fences that most of us only ever wonder about from the sidewalk. The Margarita Mile, presented once again with our friends at the Morgan Park Beverly Hills Business Association and the 95th Street Business Association, sent neighbors up and down Western and beyond in search of the perfect sip. Each month, the Porch Concerts filled the evenings with sound. Along the way, I’ve connected with business owners, school and parochial leaders and residents alike across Beverly/Morgan Park, listening to what is on folks’ minds. Taken together, they add up to one of the things BAPA cares about most: a neighborhood that keeps finding reasons to be together.
Fall does not slow that down. If anything, we’re gearing up for more connection. The calendar begins with the Old House Lecture Series Sept.17, and our Sip and Shop on Oct. 1, an evening to raise a glass and spend a little time, and a little money, with the local businesses that make our community what it is. Two weeks later, on Oct. 15, BAPA will host its first Comedy Night Laugh Where You Live, an evening built for no reason other than to bring the neighborhood into one room and laugh. It is the kind of event that does not need a cause to justify it, though in a year like this one, a good laugh among neighbors feels like reason enough.
There is a larger current running underneath all of it. Next year BAPA marks its 80th anniversary. Eighty years of the quiet, steady work of keeping our neighborhoods strong, welcoming and worth choosing. That milestone is coming into view now, and it will shape a great deal of what we do in the year ahead, including new programming related to schools, small businesses and volunteering in our community. I will have more to say about all of it in the months to come. For now, it is enough to notice that the Porch Concerts, the garden gates, the walk up Western Ave. and the laughter yet to come are all part of the same long tradition of neighbors showing up for one another.
So come to County Fair. Bring a chair if you like, though you will not need much. Come hungry and skip the cooler, as our Western Ave. favorites will have food and drink covered. Let the closing notes of summer carry into the evening, and then turn with the rest of us toward everything fall has in store.
See you soon,
Herb
