Focused Community Strategies
FCS Team

FCS Team

FCS Team

FCS Team

5 Reasons Events Like Treat Street Matter for Community Development

Soon, Historic South Atlanta will be teeming with superheroes, ballerinas, dinosaurs, and more! Treat Street will be here, an annual Halloween celebration. Over ten years ago, a group of neighbors started the event to maximize the fun and creative part of Halloween in Historic South Atlanta. With the support of the South Atlanta Civic League, the event has been going ever since. 

Events like Treat Street aren’t just fun, they’re also strategic for cultivating a thriving neighborhood. Here are a few ways events like Treat Street help our neighborhood thrive. 

#1 They Create Good Memories in the Neighborhood

As many neighbors have noted, from a local principal to community elders, it’s really important for young people to feel like they can have a good life in their neighborhood. Events like Treat Street create opportunities for young people to stock up good memories of life in Historic South Atlanta. They get to see a variety of their neighbors leading engaged and fulfilling lives. Seeing these role models helps all residents, especially young ones, feel good about life in the neighborhood and hopeful about their future there. It’s one of the ways we keep generations in Historic South Atlanta going strong. 

#2 Neighbors Love On Other Neighbors

Events like Treat Street always feature neighbors and neighborhood organizations using their talents to love on neighbors. Mrs. Goolsby from Goolsby Mortuary brings a hearse to Treat Street and lets fog spill out of the trunk to set the ambiance. The Haygoods created Haygoods’ haunted house and let youth come in and out. This builds a lot of goodwill and good memories between neighbors! It fosters a deep sense of community when lots of people show up together to do something kind for their neighborhood. It showcases leaders in the community, and the care poured into it. 

#3 Create Common Ground for New Relationships

In a mixed-income neighborhood like ours, Treat Street offers a refreshing way for neighbors to meet each other on common ground. When a neighbor or even an FCS staff member walks into Treat Street, they come as a parent, a friend, or a neighbor with a great costume. Neighbors enjoy the same event and can chat over the common joys of the space. Holding space for people to meet on equal footing helps to catalyze lasting, mutual relationships. 

#4 The Neighborhood Defines and Shows Off Its Character

For a neighborhood to thrive, it needs to have a sense of its personality and its story. Events like Treat Street help to develop both! Because events like Treat Street are created and enjoyed by neighbors, they showcase the neighborhood’s unique character. Each neighbor comes in a costume that shows off their creativity and individual tastes and interests. Combined, this means events like Treat Street help the neighborhood craft its own identity in real time. Since the event is public, all neighbors walk away with a better sense of what Historic South Atlanta is like, and what sets it apart from other neighborhoods. 

#5 They Innately Focus on Strengths and Joy

Too often, neighborhoods that have experienced the effects of injustice are looked down on. Recounting history often includes retelling stories of suffering and violence. Recognizing injustice and sitting soberly in the reality of history is important. Celebration is, too! Events like Treat Street inherently show off the resilience and vitality of places like Historic South Atlanta. They show neighborhood strengths and neighborhood joy! Events like Treat Street give neighbors the opportunity to revel in the beauty of their neighborhood, and of each other. 

These are just a few of the reasons why we love Treat Street, and why we hope to see it keep going for decades to come. Stay tuned for a live stream from Treat Street this weekend!

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