On Sunday afternoon, Lora Nunn was in her Kingman Park front yard. With her were her neighbors. Four families sat on lawn chairs, blankets and the stoops of their homes, under blossoming trees and similarly pink decorations artfully arranged across three front yards.
The neighbors had participated in the Porch Petal Parade, the National Cherry Blossom event that encouraged residents of the District to decorate their yards in celebration of cherry blossom season.
Their street had been selected for the Petal Procession, and the kids were jumping and squealing as they waited, many of them in costume. In a few minutes the procession, a fleet of Toyota vehicles decorated by local artists, would pass.
Nunn said the event was a fun thing to do with the kids –and a great way to spend time with the neighbors.
The pandemic has moved much of daily life within our homes. Nunn said that as as a result she has met more people in her neighborhod. At the beginning of the pandemic, her street celebrated the Ward 6 Porch Happy Hour, initiated by Councilmember Charles Allen (D).
Nunn befriended her nextdoor neighbors in a new way, discovering that the neighbors in the street behind her also had a child, a boy, at Maury. “I didn’t even really know my neighbors before COVID,” Nunn said. “Now my daughter and his son are inseperable.”
They carried on that togetherness as they decorated for the Petal Porch, hoping to bring the parade to their neighborhood.
On Sunday, the families could be found together on their street. Under a cloud of bubbles and pink lanterns, they chatted together. When the Petal Procession drove by their homes, honking and waving at the gathering, they sent a series of cheers up together.
Despite the year that they had been through, they had something to celebrate.
