Mifflin Street Block Party 2009

It was a nearly ideal spring day with temperatures hovering around 70 degrees. Spring has sprung and the budding leaves on the trees and sweet smelling lilacs added warmth to this golden anniversary event.

In past years the classic Mifflin event was often marked by riots and protests. In the 60's era one protest lasted for several days and involved overturning truck rigs to block intersections, and also involved much tear gas use by the police. The event is periodically marked by volatility although for the last 3 years or so it has been quite quiet. This year the crowd was very well behaved and the arrests, mostly for drinking violations, were way down from the previous year.

The Mifflin Street block party is so classic that it has its own wiki page.

I only appeared briefly at this event, arriving around 4 p.m., and staying maybe around an hour. This is probably slightly after the peak of the crowds occurred. I walked up the street and then down the street, during the approaching emerald hour, taking pictures and having some brief conversations with people as I went. The main purpose of my visit was to grab some photos. As is typically the case, everyone was friendly. People would often ask me to take their picture. In previous years I spent more time walking up and down the street, and two years ago I arrived early with my camera to watch the crowds grow.

It is indeed rather amazing that so many people from such diverse backgrounds can gather, and get along, and party together. I have never observed a fight between people at this party. This seems to be a good lesson. Maybe this is one of the better lessons people can learn in life. Most of the people here are students, but a general mixture of old and young is still found.

Some pictures with some accompanying discussion appear below.