Great weather, food, drink, and entertainment combined on Saturday as the Bay Block Party saw a record turnout.
Main Street's 100 block west was packed will fun seekers all afternoon and well into the evening. This year’s headlining act was Bahamas, the moniker for singer/songwriter/guitar virtuoso Afie Jurvanen
See: Bay Block Party is back, expands to Oak St
Ryan Humble, Co-Chair told BayToday that the feedback the committee has heard has "all been very, very positive."
"We were excited to see the turnout that we had. We exceeded last year's attendance and there was great energy throughout the day. One person told me it felt like an intimate party. It was great to see the community come out and support it."
"People kept saying thank you because it's a free event," added co-chair Kate Ricci.
Last year's estimate of visitors was 8,000 people. "This year I think we comfortably passed 10,000."
The committee tries to keep many of the bands local.
"We typically go with a lot of rock," said Ricci of the entertainment."
The vendors seemed happy, with many attendees walking beer in hand. One vendor said they ran out of beer last year, so brought extra this year.
"From their feedback, it's always been the most successful event that they tend to do. They're really happy to be part of it."
"We purchased 2,000 commemorative mugs this year in hot pink and we decided to get some overflow mugs just in case we ran out, and we did have to dip into those and use an extra 250," said Ricci.
The event has a "massive" economic impact on the downtown, the two believe.
"Talking to some of the vendors downtown, they said it ranks right up there with the Christmas Walk in terms of how busy they are. It's all about bringing people down to the core and supporting the heart of the city," says Humble. "When you have more people downtown it's certainly more inviting. There is certainly so much potential with the waterfront to amalgamate the two and create something very special.
"Coming out of the pandemic last year you could feel the yearning of people to get together and have that sense of community. The novelty of being able to have a block party is really unique, so having a drink with your friends and socializing...it really does bring people out."
"Everybody and his dog were out there," enthused Ricci. "They were havin' a good time."
Bay Block Party is presented by the North Bay and Area Realtors Association.
