In four short years, Springfield’s The Block Party has grown from a big picnic to Lane County’s largest free festival, hosting up to 15,000 neighbors one magical night in our Historic Downtown.  Continuing Springfield’s rich history of gatherings, Community Activation Network produces this annual Community Revitalization Celebration. The Block Party is a regional, powerhouse event for the next generation, featuring music, food, social service outreach, civic engagement and festivities that embody the Springfield spirit. All entirely for free.

Benjamin Wilkinson, Executive Director, Community Activation Network, will discuss the history of The Block Party and the Network’s plans for future growth of a series of community events at the Springfield City Club program at Noon on June 4. He says that the Shopper’s Paradise, Filbert Festival and the Eugene Celebration weren’t built overnight. The Network has identified economic, cultural and placemaking opportunities that will build a year-round calendar of free, public-space activations for large scale neighbor to neighbor connection. As a small public charity, he says they can work in ways that are difficult for our local government partners, and, outside the charter of economic development or networking agencies.

Mr. Wilkinson first ran for public office (school) at age 12.  He raised his hand to get things done.  Now he is the Executive Director of Community Activation Network and the organizer behind Springfield’s The Block Party, Lane County’s largest free community party. His background is in small business management, specialty coffee, and mindfulness-based fitness — not event production — which is maybe why, when he raised his hand to take over a scrappy little party in 2022, he saw not what it was, but what it could be. Five years later, Springfield seems to agree.

The program will be held at Roaring Rapids Pizza, 4006 Franklin Boulevard in Glenwood and will begin at noon on June 4.