Nokomis East Neighborhood Association (NENA) is proud to represent four neighborhoods: Keewaydin, Minnehaha, Morris Park, and Wenonah. In the past year, we worked with nonprofits, churches, local government and individuals to make connections and build opportunities in our neighborhood.NENA has hosted more than 18 events that brought neighbors together to connect, learn, and celebrate our community. These gatherings strengthened our community bonds and showcased the creativity and dedication of our residents.This year, we tackled everything from improving our environment to uplifting our community. We continued our popular annual events such as the biannual Fall and Spring Food Truck Festivals. Each festival had hosted at least six different food trucks, and our Fall Food Truck Festival even had a local band! Residents enjoyed seasonal tours, like the Holiday Lights Tour and Halloween Decor Tour, that turned our streets into magical destinations.
Environment
Environmentally focused events empowered residents to embrace sustainable practices such as our three-part workshop on Seed Saving which taught neighbors how to take seeds out of their own garden to replant in the next year. Building Better Yards helped neighbors access seeds to make their lawns more sustainable. At Earth Day Neighborhood Cleanup, dozens of volunteers came together over a cup of coffee to keep our neighborhoods clean. A friendly competition was held to see which neighbor could pick up the most trash!
Local Businesses
We continued our monthly community spotlight on businesses such as Sunbean Coffee and Watt Cycleworks. We even tried our hands with cupcake decorating at Vegan East!
Community
One of our favorite parts of our neighborhood is working with the community. We teamed up with Every Third Saturday to bring a free community meal with live music to any community member who wanted to join us. We also created our newly annual Party at Bossen which included free ice cream, bouncy houses, renter’s support resources, and over 70 backpacks filled with back-to-school supplies.We co-sponsored the Morris Park’s 30th Anniversary celebration. With about 500 neighbors the event included free ice cream, bingo, arts and crafts, bounce house, playground activities, and other sports and games. This event helped us create a new program called The Morris Park Toddler Time. This program includes storytelling by Nokomis Square Cooperative volunteers using books selected by the Nokomis Library youth librarian. Morris Park also has an indoor playground and recreation center for children to play.We hosted our annual kickball tournament, where teams from across the neighborhood brought their community spirit to the field. Our annual garage sale was a great success, bringing neighbors together to hunt for the best deals. At the Monarch Festival, we set up a table where kids created nature-inspired crafts, and during Nokomis Days, families enjoyed a live band while kids transformed the parking lot into a colorful work of art with their paintings.We worked with Hennepin County Library to provide coats, hats, and boots at the local food shelf. If you would like to donate any of these items, please drop them off at our Nokomis Library!And who could forget the State of Our Neighborhood and Community Safety Forum – important opportunities to reflect on our shared goals and challenges? We gave neighbors a platform to speak to their representatives directly about issues community members find the most pressing.
2025
We are excited about all of the good work we’ve done in the past year and hope to make next year even better. Please join us at State of Our Neighborhood. It will be held online on Feb. 5 at 6:30 p.m. We will continue working with Morris Park in promoting toddler time! Starting Jan. 7 from 3:30-5 p.m. at Morris Park, parents and caregivers are welcome to bring their toddlers for open play fun and storytelling. Please reach out to nena@nokomiseast.org if you would like to volunteer or visit our website at nokomiseast.org to learn about us or our upcoming events!