Snow cone skit Bridging Festival Aug 2011.mov

During our 8/13/2011 festival in Phillips West, Minneapolis we (Bart Buch and Dallas Johnson) hosted an original play based on the true story of Muriel Simmons. She moved to our neighborhood with her kids and grandchildren in the early 90s and soon realized it was crime-ridden and dangerous. Instead of hiding inside, she bought a snow cone cart and along with her kids, handed out snow cones to passers-by. They quickly met lots of people and soon Muriel launched a phone tree, building community and activating a movement that led to a safer, happier neighborhood. We still have a long way to go so the Bridging Minneapolis - Phillips West Project is building on Muriel's good works and invited Muriel and her youngest grandchildren to act out her story.

In the skit, the kids are playing when they notice that the adults are stuck and complaining, "It's dangerous! I'm scared! Why doesn't somebody do something?". The kids run to Muriel and holler, "They're stuck! What do we do?". They gather around and she answers, "We gotta stay cool and help each other out". She and the kids bring out the snow cone cart and the kids distribute snow cones (banners created by neighbors earlier in the day which say things like, "Share" and "Be cool, neighbor"). Soon the adults are unstuck and everyone joins hands in a spiral dance. At the end of the play, Loren Niemi poured water from the Mississippi River in a circle on the ground and then we all popped over to the festival party where Muriel's family served us delicious snow cones.

The song is an original composition by Dallas Johnson with music by Cleveland Boney and vocal arrangement and recording by JD Steele. The song also features musicians Wendell Henry on drums, Mike Scott on guitar and Serge Akou on bass and additional vocals by Vivian and her son Julian Jones.

Photos by Robert Albee

For more info on our neighborhood activation/placemaking project, check out
www.bridgingminneapolis.com

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• placemaking
• minneapolis
• community
• play
• activism
• phillips