Local community members host Block Party for residents
Community Block Party
Md. – The West Side of Salisbury held a Community Day Block Party starting at 2 p.m.
Keonte Bratten Sr. has lived just steps away from Booth Street in Salisbury. He says the community has had its share of pain and promise. “I’m going to do everything I can to keep hope alive over here… I was born and raised here. The West Side, I love this side of town. I love the whole city of Salisbury, But I live and breathe this west side, so anything I can do for this West side, I’m all for it.”
The West Side area has been known to have a lot of crime and gun violence, but Keonte says, that doesn’t mean there aren’t good people living here. “It’s good people in this community, it’s bad people in this community, that everywhere you go, it’s not just this community. Now yes we have had a lot of tragedy, over here on this side of town, but other than that, this is a good side of town. “Demetria Marshall- Leonard is a community leader and says the Westside area is sometimes forgotten. “We are left behind, we don’t get the help that we should have on this side of town, We are often overlooked, but we come together as a community.”
Keonte and his family went above and beyond what was needed to serve the community they love. They took money out of their own pockets to host a block party for area residents. “We got the dunking booth, we got the water slides, we’re going to have the obstacle course, the bouncy house, we got the DJ… I got well over 2,000 pieces of chicken, I got 1,000 hot dogs and hamburgers, I got about 500 shish kabobs, I got enough fish to make about 500-600 fish sandwiches.”
There we’re plenty of vendors set up, but Keonte told everyone to leave their wallets at home. “Nothing will be sold at this event, everything’s free. Even with the vendor, the ones that reached out, like I told them, they can come, but you got to give something away for free because it’s about giving back.” By giving back, they hope that this inspires the younger generation to do the same-
and take pride in where they live.
