Erin Dunn-Kimball paints Maryan Aben’s face Wednesday as her friend, Habso Abdi, waits her turn at the Pine Street Community Back2School Block Party in Lewiston. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

LEWISTON — It was the first year that the annual Pine Street community block party and Back2School events were combined, and organizers didn’t quite know what to expect.

But, Malik Hall, the lead organizer of Back2School, which is aimed at helping kids transition into a new school year, said from his view on the stage Wednesday, the crowd of people looked like it went on and on. Kids were dancing and singing to local hip hop artists on the closed-off street. There were smiles everywhere.

Other organizers said families seemed to be waiting and prepared for the day to arrive.

“It was awesome,” Hall said. “If you looked from the stage, you couldn’t see how far (the crowd) went.”

Hall said that with the Choice Neighborhoods initiative underway, and with construction on new housing taking shape, it seemed “advantageous” to merge Back2School and the annual block party “and wrap it around the Tree Streets transformation plan.”

Aside from new housing, the plan also aims to create a more vibrant neighborhood through recreational events just like Wednesday’s party, along with workforce development, child care, and health care.

Other organizers and sponsors included Webb’s Market, Lewiston Summer Fun & Films, Community Credit Union, and the city of Lewiston.

Hall said Community Credit Union is a financial institution that literally “puts their money where their mouth is” regarding its support for community events and covered some of the “high-end” costs of running it. The party featured several musical acts, face painting, a reptile display, a bounce house, free hot dogs and popcorn, and balloon animals.

Lewiston police Detective Joe Philippon, who has spent years focused on community policing efforts, said the block party is “a large representative demonstration of true pride and spirit that the majority of our Tree Street residents have in Lewiston.”

“They care and want what we all want, which is for the community to succeed, to be happy and to demonstrate what our true narrative is. Events like (this) are an example of who we are,” he said.

He estimated there were some 2,000 people who came through the party.

Hall said Philippon’s presence at events like Wednesday’s shows people that city services are for the community, despite the continued stigma that comes with police. The party Wednesday fell between two community forums held to discuss community safety in the wake of recent violence.

“It’s another reminder that the social services Lewiston offers are for the community,” Hall said. “Along the way, the noise makes you forget that sometimes. It’s a reminder that services are for the community, not for politicians or administrators.”

Greg Kenabours, owner of HPA Production, a sound, lighting and video production company that does various events in and around the Twin Cities, said organizers had big expectations for the block party and “they were exceeded.”

He said the party takes a little bit of coordinating due to closing the road, along with a four-hour setup with a stage for sound and video. But, he said the whole neighborhood seemed to know about the party, and was ready to participate.

“The kids tore it up, they were so thrilled,” he said, referring to performances by several local hip hop artists and DJ’s. “The kids knew the words to the songs, and these were local acts, but they seem to be well-known.”

Kenabours has also collaborated with Philippon for years on the Summer Fun & Films program. He said Philippon has always been “a man of the community.”

“He’s been involved with a lot of policing events, and he’s definitely an example of how the Police Department and the community should interact and work together,” he said.

He said the larger Choice Neighborhoods program is “a Herculean kind of effort to revitalize and bring the community together,” and the annual block party is an important piece of that work.

Hall said this year was the third Back2School event and fourth block party. Back2School began in the wake of the pandemic, a September event that sought to provide a sense of excitement for students entering a new year at a time when most of the work was still being done remotely. He said there was “no real excitement” for the start of the school year, and they wanted to “level the playing field, and have something they could experience together.”

That sense of bringing the community together remains the goal, he said.

Mayor Carl Sheline, who was also in attendance, said the block party “checks a lot boxes for me as mayor: businesses contributing to their community, residents coming together share a beautiful Maine evening, and kids having fun.”