A usually quiet corner of Binghamton’s West Side was vibrant with the sounds of freeze tag, hula hooping contests and general camaraderie Saturday afternoon for the latest installment of #WeOutside607.
The volunteer-based summer community series arrived in Walnut Park for a school supplies giveaway, alongside a free produce distribution by Binghamton Food Rescue and cookout lunch sponsored by the NoMa Community Center.
Binghamton resident Brianna Kibler said she appreciated the variety of activities for her toddler and school-aged children, including face-painting, arts and crafts and giant games of Jenga and Connect Four.
“It was very helpful to be able to pick up their school supplies,” she said, thanking organizers for offering a selection pulled directly from school-issued supplies lists.
Jacob Rotary of Rotary Cycles repaired more than a dozen bikes brought by neighborhood residents, carefully talking interested owners through the process to share his mechanical knowledge.
Though this was his first appearance at a #WeOutside607 event, Rotary said he regularly sets up a pop-up repair shop in high-traffic areas like Recreation Park and Cheri Lindsey Park.
“I just want bikes to be more accessible,” he said. “For a lot of people, it’s their only form of transportation.”
How the pop-up events are growing in Binghamton
The purpose of the pop-up event — the fourth in a series this summer — is to foster a sense of community among the city’s most isolated neighborhoods and bring joy to its underserved residents, according to Terri Weathers, a Binghamton-based artist and community organizer who helped facilitate the event.
Previous pop-up events have been held at Cheri Lindsey Park on the North Side, the newly renamed Angela Davis Park — formerly Boland Park — on the East Side and Saratoga Terrace Apartments on the South Side.
“It shows the community that you don’t need police, you don’t need the government to take care of your neighbors,”…
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