3rd Thursday Just for Us - 2008

First published in Bayview Footprints Local News print edition, Summer 2008.

Just for Us - and YOU TOO! (also known as "Third Thursday") is the traveling monthly social event organized by Bayview Footprints community builders. In May, the event celebrated business, art and community at Javalencia Cafe where owner/operators Servio Gomez and Mayra Mizrachi demonstrated that they are among the most community-minded business people in Bayview. Servio and Mayra have inspired Art 94124, a group of residents who have created an art space called Gallery 94124, and held an art festival in June.

Local CBS news covered the next Just for Us on July 24th when the event series found its way to the Quesada Garden on Quesada Avenue and Third Street. About 60 residents and community leaders had come together to launch the 2nd Annual Quesada Gardens Film Festival.

Nibblers tried EverGood Sausages donated by Bayview's favorite sausage maker, yellow watermelon from the Bayview Farmers' Market, and nectarines donated by the San Francisco Wholesale Food Market. Linda Brooks Burton supplied lemonade she made with locally harvested lemons. Young people stayed until nearly midnight using the fi lm projection system for a video gaming competition - a new aspect of the film fest added last year when Bayview kids convinced adults that video gaming on the projection system was "crush."

Steven Aiello received the first-ever "Karl Paige and Annette Smith Award for Community-Building." Fred Guni wowed the crowd with his guitar and voice, while The Green Goatee handed out alms of gardening advice.

As dusk approached, jazz diva Sarah Vaughan and silent film star Harold Lloyd came to life on the BIG outdoor screen, lent by Kristine Enea. Later, the younger crowd used the projection system for video gaming until nearly midnight.

On Saturday July 26th, the Quesada Gardens Outdoor Film Festival went into overdrive with a showing of Girl's Rock!, a feature-length documentary by QGI Co-Founder and resident Shane King. Shane took questions from the audience after the film, and then local youth swept in with a Play Station once again to make the universe safe from space pirates.

Both Just for Us and the film festival are ongoing efforts that residents have been organizing to introduce community gathering spaces to their neighbors, and to take back the night from fear and isolation.

Nearly 200 people from all backgrounds participated in these free events, providing another example of how Bayview residents are stepping up to uncover our neighborhood's strength.