Posted by jtooley, a resident of the Menlo Park: Linfield Oaks neighborhood, on Aug 2, 2007 at 8:58 pm

I liked the event. It was great to meet my neighbors and friends of MP on a nice evening. I am looking to the next event.

I would like to see more restaurants and tables for dinner since it was nice to eat and listen to the bands but the choices were limited and you had to wait.

Posted by block partier, a resident of the Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park neighborhood, on Aug 3, 2007 at 8:20 am

I enjoyed it and only wished more people had come. Maybe they will as the word gets out.

One thing that shocked me was how many of the downtown businesses are really dull and make downtown appear dead in the evening. There are way too many banks, nail shops, thrift shops, realtors that front onto Santa Cruz. Fortunately we have some excellent restaurants and a few interesting stores.

Posted by JJ Brown, a resident of another community, on Aug 3, 2007 at 10:18 am

I think the comcept was good. The execution could have been better.

Come on Menlo Park merchants, here's a chance to do some good. local business with your neighbors.

Not only restaurants but the rest of the brick and motor businesses should seize the opportunity to let the neighbors know who they are.

Keep your doors open for a few more hours. Pass out coupons, cookies, anything that will let cusotmers know who you are. With all that foot traffic how can you miss?

Posted by Ellen Steele, a resident of another community, on Aug 6, 2007 at 8:41 am

We attended between 6:30 & 7:00 with our two young children. As a former MP resident, I, too, was surprised that there weren't more people there, because it's a nice idea. Perhaps it was too closely scheduled to the Street Fair held in late July? At any rate, here are a few thoughts that crossed my mind:

1) Fewer bands (there was one every few feet, and as a result only a few people were listening to any one at a given time.

2) A second jumpy house for kids or some other kids' attraction at the opposite end of the street - one was good, but there was a line every time we went by.

3) Encourage displays that are interactive to teach about environmental/conservation issues. We wandered by a lot of things, but nothing really drew us in.

Great idea, with room to grow!

Posted by Jeremy Gundel, a resident of the Atherton: other neighborhood, on Aug 6, 2007 at 11:35 am

Nice event overall. Should definitely be repeated but lots of room for improvement.

Low turnout will improve naturally next year I imagine. I was surprised there was so little Green information. A couple cars and two booths was all I saw. Holbrook Palmer did a great green day this spring -- talk to those organizers about fun green stuff.

Also, get more kiddie stuff. The jumpy house had a 15+ minute line the whole time we were there, so we didn't use it.

Thanks to the organizers for starting this up.