Our annual Ice Cream Social was held at Monta Loma Park on Sunday, August 28, and was a huge success. Photos are here.
With the exhibits and the crowd spread out along the trees on the south side of the park all the way to Thompson Avenue, we didn’t realize until later how many came to meet their neighbors, visit the exhibits, and enjoy a selection of packaged ice cream treats. The welcome-table volunteers signed in over 300 attendees, but many more did not sign in, so we estimate that attendance was at least 350.
Neighborhood participants included our CERT members (safety information), Gary Heyman (balloons), Bill Lambert (Friends of Mountain View Parks), Tom Purcell (Monta Loma history), Alan Whitaker (Monarch and Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly info plus the plants they require), Joan MacDonald (CHAC), and Jill Rakestraw, Ann McMillan, and Grant Grundler (plant exchange).
Wouter Suverkropp gave rides to kids in a buggy drawn by robot horses, Gloria Jackson and John Ari Stepp offered cotton candy, and neighborhood band On the Edge provided music. Marty Pulvers staffed the tee-shirt and logo-items sales table, Jim Cochran took photos, and Bill Cranston provided the A-frame signs that reminded us to attend.
Other participants were representatives of the Monta Loma Elementary School PTA, Mountain View Educational Foundation, Living Classroom, Canopy, Recology Zero Waste, the city’s Recreation Division, and Mountain View Historical Association. A crew from the Fire Department brought an engine.
Invited attendees who came included Mayor Lucas Ramirez and City Council members Alison Hicks, Ellen Kamei, Lisa Matichak, and Pat Showalter, plus MVWSD Board of Trustees members Laura Ramirez Berman and Ellen Wheeler. They all appreciated the opportunity to meet Monta Loma residents, and their appreciation was echoed by the neighbors.
Thanks to everyone who helped make this year’s event a success.