Families take back San Antonio Park with Friday night fun and games

Over 250 people made their way to San Antonio Park in East Oakland Friday evening. Among the bright, inviting murals and delicious smells of popcorn and spaghetti launched Family Friday, a new program to give families a safe space to get to know each other and build community. 

The program, started by Trybe, a nonprofit serving youth and families, is a continuation of Town Nights, a program by the city’s Department of Violence Prevention that hosts events in parks around Oakland to combat violence. 

Andrew Park, executive director and founder of Trybe, said the organization’s goal is neighborhood safety, and he hopes Family First will accomplish that by inviting residents of all ages to the park. 

On Friday, families descended on the newly renovated courts, grabbing freshly popped popcorn on their way in. A toddler area with comfy rugs and chairs for parents was busy with pretend kitchen play and train slides. In another area, people were playing games. Gleeful screams and music was heard from all three courts. Trybe staff tended to a large vat of hot spaghetti, ready to serve 300 families, while kids of all ages played basketball, volleyball, and football.

The spaghetti ended up running out, but the fun did not. As dinner ended, roller skating began. Trybe provided a couple dozen sets of roller skates, Rollerblades, and helmets in a variety of sizes to finish off the night.

“It’s a place for people to just come out and connect with each other,” Park said. “Parents don’t have to worry about dinner for a night and can just have a good time and meet some neighbors.”

Tara Batts, a mother to three children, born and raised blocks from the park, said San Antonio used to be too dirty to enjoy.

“It wasn’t a park you want to bring your kids to. Now it’s beautiful … and this event is something for the kids to do, to play and make new friends,” Batts said.

Nearby, while Trybe staff cleaned up the tables, Jermell Cannon, 8_,  lined up gym matts and began doing handsprings.

“I learned how to do flips on YouTube,” he said. 

It wasn’t Jermell’s first event at San Antonio Park, and it won’t be his last. “These people are like my brothers,” he said, before running off to do more flips.

Family Friday is smaller and more intimate than Town Night, prioritizing community-centered programming over numbers, Park said. 

The Violence Prevention Department had been able to fund up to six Town Nights events in San Antonio Park. However, after Oakland’s mid-cycle budget cuts, the number was cut to three events, according to Park. 

Adriana Ramos, a Trybe staff member who grew up in the neighborhood, said she’s never been part of a program involving the whole community. 

“A lot of people struggle here financially, and kids, they struggle at home,” Ramos said. “So here, it allows you to make friends. It pushes you to get to know your neighbor and to create that bond with each other.”

The next Family Friday at San Antonio Park is Sept. 27.

(All photos by Amy Osborne)

---

That’s the ticket: Models hit the Rockridge runway in clothes fashioned from BART passes