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MARSHALL -- Mankato resident Ahmed Rasheed was in Marshall Monday visiting family and decided to take his first-grade sister to Justice Park to give his parents a break.
Madelaine Elling wanted to honor a friend who recently died by creating chalk art on a sidewalk.
Yasmin Osman and Adya Waichanji enjoyed frozen treats while walking through the park.
All of them were attending the block party sponsored by the city of Marshall to kick off Welcoming Week.
"It really brings the community together," Rasheed said while entertaining his sister at the children's play area. "If you look around, you see different bunch of people, different backgrounds, different ethnicities, and everybody’s just here, you know, having fun. There’s no other thoughts about it. It’s just that we’re in one big community, and we’re all just neighbors, pretty much."
The party featured a number activities such as a dunk tank, candy drop and Bingo. The block party seemed to match the online statement by Mayor Bob Byrnes for the week.
"Welcoming Week is an opportunity for our community to show how much we value each and every member's contribution to our city," Byrnes said. "By working together, we can achieve a more prosperous community where diverse people from around the world feel valued and want to put down roots."
Elling was thinking of her friend's contribution of poetry while drawing a butterfly.
"We used to go and do art with him all the time, all in the city. We figured this would be a way to come together and do art in his name again," she said. “He used to collect butterflies and stuff like that. The ones I find like along the roads and stuff like that."
Osman called the block party "very cool."
"I like how we all gather together," she said.
"It's nice to express those different cultures," Waichanji said.