When you schedule 145 outdoor deployments as we did this year, here’s the truth: sometimes it rains. Rainy day photos often get cut from the blog, but something caught my eye in these images of the Uni last weekend in Ridgewood. Despite intermittent rain and wind, the neighborhood came out, gathered, and turned a closed-off street into a thriving community space. And you can see below that people were all smiles.

It’s easy to talk about placemaking. It’s tricky to do it even on a sunny day. But it takes a special breed to do it in the rain. A salute is due to all the placemakers on the ground—in this case the hard-working folks at Myrtle Ave BID who closed off the street and created a reason for people to gather. Count us in for next year’s Ridgewood Stroll!

Ridgewood

Ridgewood

Ridgewood

Ridgewood

Ridgewood

Ridgewood

Ridgewood

Local restaurants lined the street with food samples.

Ridgewood

And yes, free beer can help rainy day placemaking.

Ridgewood

Ridgewood

Our friends at Queens Library had a table nearby.

Ridgewood

Ridgewood

Special thanks to Ted Renz at Myrtle Ave BID for inviting the Uni to Ridgewood.

Ridgewood

Ridgewood

Here’s how the Uni reading room works:

Ridgewood

…friends and family…

Ridgewood

…learn together!