Winners Night in Southern Gables

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Last week’s oppressively hot weather turned a little cooler just in time for our big Neighborhood Night Out on Friday. The day came up sunny and warm, not too hot, pretty much perfect. Some surprise afternoon clouds dropped a warm summer rain soon after the 5:00 p.m. start. Some in the crowd ducked under the nearest canopy for a few minutes while others just continued checking out the attractions, and after the raindrops eased off it was as if it never happened – except the air turned a little cooler. That’s a win! 

Counting from 2015 when Doug Whitten organized the first Southern Gables Neighborhood Night Out, this was the tenth. The math doesn’t exactly track since COVID knocked out 2020 and an all-day, drenching rain in 2023 caused our only cancellation. Each year had from 500 to 700 of our favorite neighbors playing games, checking out local businesses, getting to know one another, listening to music and chowing down on hotdogs at the schoolyard. Everyone who entered the gate got a free raffle ticket. Some were hesitant to take them, thinking there was a catch or something to pay for. “No, it’s free, a raffle for cash prizes.” Everything’s free at Night Out. 

This year we had about 650 people from all around the Southern Gables neighborhood and the Green Gables School community who came out. Party Pros DJ Mike put on a good mix keeping the energy going, and this year he actually got some of the people dancing. That was a first. There were games at lots of the booths, kids bouncing and sliding around in a couple of bouncy houses provided by Westwoods Community Church, face painting for the kids, Scouts practicing their knots lashing together a demonstration of backwoods engineering, and lots of neighborly interaction for everyone. Free hot dogs, chips and lemonade, and Magill’s World of Ice Cream cups were the walk-around foods of choice as neighbors and friends browsed around the booths and visited with each other. Our Selected Business Supporters and community organizations showed their stuff, and in the free raffle five people walked off with cash prizes of $50 and $100.

Lucky raffle winners: L-R Alondra Lobel, Hazel McKenzie Thornbury, Jacey Wessley, Jacob Meunier, and Tracy Herrera. Association President Bruce McDonald, back row, made the presentations.

Working together

It always takes a lot of volunteer energy and cooperation to put on the event. Judy and Doug Whitten bought the hot dogs, chips, and lemonade. They also put up signs around the neighborhood advertising the event the week before, We did a lot of heavy lifting and carrying at Taylor’s Rental Center to pickup, transport, and set up the tables and chairs they provided: Lynn & Gayle Gunderson, Ken Fischer, Sam Sotiros, Trevor Wolfson, Kathy and Erwin Bunzli, Ed and Carolyn Wolfrum, Marcel and Andie Guajardo, Stormy McDonald and I pitched in for one or more parts of the job. Marci DeMott helped the booth operators find their places and get set up. Ken Fischer and Carol Hamer welcomed people at the entrance and gave out the free raffle tickets as people came in. Marcel Guajardo and Jabin Cook handled the grilling. Judy Whitten and Liz Reed kept the hot dogs moving on the serving line. Heather Dirschl handled the drinks. Westwoods Community Church provided volunteers for the popular bouncy houses and the Face Painting booth. At the end of the event, Scout Troop 537 took over and got all of the tables and chairs loaded for return to Taylor’s. 

One feature of this year’s Night Out was a terrific reduction in the amount of trash. With the assistance of Lakewood Sustainability, we used special compostable drink cups and hot dog tray, and had five volunteer students from Carmody Middle School helping people sort them into separate containers for composting, alongside the recycling and trash containers. The amount of trash going to the dumpsters, and from there to the landfill, was reduced by more than half from previous events. Even the potato chip bags went into a specialized recycling channel, through an arrangement with the recycling company Ridwell. 

Thanks to a great outpouring of support from civic-minded neighbors, organizations, and businesses, a torrent of volunteer energy transformed the event into an extraordinary community event. It’s something that marks Southern Gables as a unique and special community.

Did we get your picture? 

All in all, with the preparation and cooperation that went into making the Southern Gables Neighborhood Night Out a success, we think there were more than a few winners for the evening. When neighbors and friends get together and get to know each other better, everyone wins!

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