It’s been 13 years since the first Senses Block Party hit Santa Clarita in June 2011, and Thursday marked the city’s hundredth celebration.
Past Senses Block Party themes melded together, including tiki drinks, casino games and Irish dancers. Attendees also had the chance to buy from food trucks and drinks from a street tiki bar at the event.
City of Santa Clarita Events Supervisor Kyle Lopez said her team wanted to try to commemorate all the most popular themes.
“It was really important for us to highlight the past 13 years of all of our different [Senses Block Parties] and [this celebration] is a compilation of some of the best components we’ve had over the years,” Lopez said.
Lopez said that over the years, the city had adjusted when Senses Block Party would run. She said that during the first two years, the event would run year-round, but that they noticed turnout during the colder months was low. They’ve since been adjusted to run March through October.
Lopez also said that seeing the growth of turnout over the years has been surprising for the team.
“We were really shocked at the very beginning with how the community responded,” Lopez said. “The first couple of years were really, really big. We definitely have strong turnouts, and there have been some months that sometimes are a little bit slower with back to school and all that kind of stuff. But we’ve seen a really good turnout on all our events and we try to obviously pick themes we know the community’s going to enjoy.”
Residents like Marlena Van Heerden and her son came out to bond over the games available at the event, as there was no shortage of air hockey, hoops and “Dance, Dance, Revolution.”
“It’s so, so fun,” Van Heerden said. “This is our second time coming since we came last month, and we were like, ‘We have to come before it ends.’”
The next Senses Block Party is scheduled to be pirate-themed on Sept. 19 at 7 p.m.
More information can be found on the Old Town Newhall webpage at oldtownnewhall.com/senses-block-party.
