DANVILLE — Old classmates and familiar faces filled the Danville Local Schools parking lot Saturday as the district hosted it’s first-ever Alumni Block Party.
Attendees were welcomed with alumni trivia, a merchandise booth and plenty of activities — including a face-painting booth and corn hole.
The more relaxed approach to the event allowed alumni to come-and-go as they pleased, setting up lawn chairs and tents to reunite and reminisce without a set schedule to follow.
“Whether you graduated from Danville, attended Danville, or simply wish you had… you’re invited.”
Block party invitation
For Supt. Jason Snively, that was part of the appeal.
“This is a nice way to draw people in from the local community, or if they’re in town, they can just relax and come and sit on their lawn chairs,” Snively said.
The informal setup also took some of the pressure off alumni who might otherwise feel responsible or want to organize their own reunions.
Alumni return with business
The block party also gave Danville alumni an opportunity to return not only as former students, but as local business owners.
Wicked Designs, DragonFly Coffee Co. and Blanchard Blue Collar BBQ were among the vendors. All of the vendors have a connection, whether community members or alumni themselves.
“Ideally, that’s what we look for, to celebrate their successes and their engagement, and what the alumni are doing,” Snively said.
Buddy’s Local Eats, owned by Buddy Edwards, a Danville resident, was also present.
Keaira Sanchez, a 2025 Danville graduate, worked the Buddy’s truck during the reunion.
Sanchez is currently attending cosmetology school and working at Kroger. She grew up in Danville and attended the local schools throughout her childhood.
“I’ve been here my whole life, I went to Danville,” Sanchez said.
For Sanchez, that meant growing up alongside the same classmates and community members she saw at the block party.
A blast from the past
For those who wanted to take a trip further back in Danville’s history, the original 1939 Junior High/High School, complete with renovations and updates, was open for anyone to tour.
Curious alumni were rewarded with stacks of yearbooks in the foyer, dating all the way back to the 1930s.
“That’s intentional … It’s really neat to look through them and (see) the advertisements and business that used to be in town, the old faces. People come and see their grandparents,” Snively said.
Alumni got a chance to celebrate more than their history, but also the future.
“What we try to celebrate here is keeping the history at the same time as making the building functional for modern education, and see how we can blend those two together,” Snively said.
Snively hopes to make the block party a tradition, to bring alumni back into the community year after year.
“We have a great community, and we want to make sure we don’t lose the alumni, whether they still live here, or they live thousands of miles away,” Snively said.
(Here are Alexandra Hopkins’ photos of the event).
