Excelsior Springs, Mo. (Feb. 23, 2025) – As the winter weather slowly subsides, the Excelsior Springs Neighborhood Engagement Team, a collaborative group of individuals aiming to bring neighbors together through community-based events, recently met to discuss upcoming community-based initiatives set to begin in April 2025.
The team, led by Neighborhood Specialist Laura Mize, explained the new initiatives being discussed, including a city-wide Block Party Challenge, Flamingo Fridays, and an all-inclusive Night Out Against Crime.
“The Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, has declared isolation and loneliness to be epidemics in the United States,” Mize said, “Neighbor gatherings like block parties help combat isolation and loneliness by connecting us with those we share a block or street with.”
She noted the Block Party Challenge will help encourage area residents to host their own block parties, aiming to bring residents together while encouraging involvement and strengthening relationships. The Neighborhood Engagement Team has also set a community goal aiming to have residents host at least 50 of these gatherings between the Easter and Halloween holidays.
To make these block parties easier to organize, the city of Excelsior Springs will add a registry form on the city hall website. Mize explained that those wanting to host a neighborhood event can register their block party so that others in the community can participate, and the engagement team can track the progress of how many block parties have occurred to reach their goal.
Mize added that she, along with the team, has been awarded a grant from the Neighborhood Leadership Academy to conduct the Block Party Challenge, explaining that the funding will be used to help those interested in planning an event.
She added that the funds will provide items such as door hangers for those hosting a party. The hangers will include details such as the date, time, location, and what attendees can bring to their party.
For those not interested in hosting a large event, Mize mentioned other similar and smaller gatherings, such as Flamingo Fridays, that can be beneficial as individuals can come together and foster a new or deeper connection with those next door or across the street.
She explained Flamingo Fridays are designed to be smaller recurring get-togethers hosted in someone’s driveway.
“Neighbors can get together for an hour each week with a rotating host,” she said. These weekly get-togethers “create an easy-to-join opportunity for neighbors to connect.”
In addition, the Neighborhood Engagement Team is also planning a community-wide block party, Excelsior Springs’s own, Night Out Against Crime.
This community event, situated in downtown Excelsior Springs, is scheduled for September 27 from 6-8 p.m., featuring local first responders as the ‘celebrities’ of the evening.
Activities at the event will include a touch-a-truck for children and individuals to see inside firetrucks and police vehicles, MoChip child registration will be present, and a bike parade will take place to entertain those who come to the event along with food trucks and informational tables providing crime prevention resources for those in attendance.
Mize noted that the event will offer an opportunity for residents to meet and interact with police officers, firefighters, and other public safety personnel.
With these exciting new initiatives, Excelsior Springs, in coordination with the Neighborhood Engagement Team, is well on its way to becoming a more inclusive and connected community, fostering a spirit of engagement, support, and mutual care for one another.
For more information regarding the Excelsior Springs Neighborhood Engagement Team or for those who want to get involved with the group, visit: https://cityofesmo.com/development/index.php/neighborhoods/
“The team is open to anyone wishing to learn about neighboring within Excelsior Springs,” Mize said.
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