Community Block Party Celebration Draws a Community Together

On Saturday morning, Sept. 20, the Boys and Girls Club hosted a Community Block Party at their clubhouse in Redlands. The City of Redlands partnered with the club to bring more games, prizes, food, and entertainment to make sure the celebration of the community was the best it could be. Multiple booths were set up along Clay Street, as well as inside the tennis courts. The first entertainment for the day was the “Bryn Mawr Singers”, seven kids from the Boys and Girls Club performed a song for the audience. There was also a booth just for magic tricks, and two different bounce houses. For food, there were booths like Panda Express and Jersey Mike’s, and the Redlands Noon Kiwanis Club booth, which was also serving food. Aside from the entertainment, food, and activities, there were also guest speakers from Loma Linda University Medical Center Loma Linda’s Dr. Lindsay Bautista, MD gave a brief speech to on tips to prevent obesity. As she began to give her speech, two young girls ran up to the stage. Dr. Bautista pointed the microphone in their direction and asked what they wanted to be when they grow up. One of the girls said a teacher and the other said a veterinarian. “Did you check out the booth behind you?” Dr. Bautista asked. There was a Redlands Animal Shelter booth right across the street with three cats. The girls immediately ran in that direction. Throughout the whole day, there were raffles of different types including toys for the children, gift cards to Jamba Juice and various food places, Halo action figures, dolls, dollhouses, and more.