Neighbors celebrate a street that unites
Avenue for All Festival brings together the South Side
The machine blowing bubbles into the air could barely keep up with 1-year-old Isla Dyer as she swayed to the music in the middle of Parsons Avenue.
Soon other little ones rushed in to join little Isla.
Some came from the neighborhoods east of Parsons Avenue and some came from the west.
But the children and their parents and those walking up and down Parsons Avenue at the Avenue for All Festival didn’t care where anyone was from.
They were celebrating the street as a place that now unites instead of a line that divides the
haves and have-nots.
A line that for years separated the South Side by the affluence of German Village and Merion Village on one side and some neighborhoods that have struggled with crime and poverty on the other.
“I think that line is going away,” said Alexandra Dyer, Isla’s mom and a dance teacher at the Inspiration to Movement dance studio on Parsons Avenue. “And I’m judging that by who we have seen walk through our doors recently. We are getting children in our studio from both sides. It feels like one community rather than a division.”
The festival, sponsored by the United Methodist Church and Community Development for All People, was started in 2019 but had some bad luck. It poured rain for half of the first one, and then the COVID-19 pandemic forced its cancellation last year.
But its mission of creating a welcoming place for everyone, regardless of age, race, politics, sexual orientation, religion or economic background was accomplished Saturday.
The festival, held on Parsons Avenue between East Whittier Street to East Kossuth Street, was alive with bands playing in the street, food vendors and booths from area businesses promoting their goods or services.
Several hundred people were expected to visit the festival between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
“The inspiration for this is to celebrate the transformation that has occurred on the city’s South Side,” said
Mike Premo, director of engagement for Community Development for All People. “Parsons Avenue had been a dividing line between two very different neighborhoods or a street with not much to do or you just walked down to catch the bus. Now it’s a place where all people come together, and it’s been great to watch that come to fruition and we want to celebrate it.”
Allison Willford, 39, and Rada Kuperschmidt, 41, are partners who have shared a home in Merion Village for about six years just a few blocks from the festival. They were sitting watching a band at the festival and have had a front row seat watching the Parsons Avenue transformation.
Willford remembers when she first moved into the area about 10 years ago and people in her life questioned why she would want to live on the South Side. Some feared for her well-being due to crime in the community.
The area still has its challenges, but that kind of talk has faded away as restaurants, breweries, dance studios, coffee shops, retail stories, bakeries and food trucks have helped bring Parsons Avenue alive.
“It’s amazing to see what they have done over the past several years,” Willford said. “It’s far more of a community now, and that is the way it should feel.”
Kuperschmidt agreed with her partner.
“This blending of the community has brought a pride here,” Kuperschmidt said. “We are all human beings wanting to feel safe and enjoy the good things in life no matter what side of this street you come from.” mwagner@dispatch.com @Mikewagner48