Enlarge Ali, 6, daughter of Rebecca Jones and Alex Clark, takes a break during Merry Oaks holiday crawl.

Posted: December 18th, 2009 Tonya Jameson

Inside a home on Draper Avenue, several women sipped wine in the kitchen. Two men stood in the art studio admiring paintings. A couple looked at jewelry. Around the corner on Arnold Drive, two women admired jewelry and munched on ginger cookies.

The two homes were part of the Merry Oaks neighborhood art crawl and holiday celebration. Along with the crawl, residents also lit luminaries that evening. The event was a chance for the quiet neighborhood off Central Avenue to celebrate the holidays and showcase the talented residents.

Merry Oaks is an old neighborhood nestled between Eastway Drive and Briar Creek Road off Central Avenue. Residents are active from fighting zoning changes that would decrease home values to pushing police for a stronger presence. The community Google group often buzzes about everything from a lost cat to speeders to break-ins. It’s also one of those neighborhoods that works hard to be a community. Nine artists set up in six homes for the holiday art crawl.

“My job as the president of the neighborhood association is to build that community that sense of belonging to the neighborhood,” said Cate Martin, president of the Merry Oaks Neighborhood Association. “And getting people to participate so they can feel proud of their neighborhood and get to know their neighbors.”

Erin Kuehn and Jennifer Jamsky live in west and southeast Charlotte respectively, but they found their way to Martin’s house to check out Patty Perkins’ jewelry. Perkins has lived in Merry Oaks for 20 years, and loves that the neighborhood is so close knit.

Kuehn and Jamsky wish their neighborhoods could be as neighborly.

“It’s a great idea to bring community together and for neighbors to get to know each other,” said Jennifer Jamsky visiting from southeast Charlotte

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