BATON ROUGE - Monticello and Park Forest East residents gathered Sunday afternoon for a 'Meet Your Neighbor on the Median' gathering hosted by Metro Councilman Darryl Hurst.

Hurst said that he hopes the event sparks communication between neighbors and leads to decreased crime rates. 

"What we've seen is a lot of breakdowns in north Baton Rouge, in terms of neighbors not talking to each other. We talk about crime happening in our communities, but sometimes the neighbors don't communicate that to better our neighborhoods," he said.

More than 300 guests attended the event, which featured games for kids, a food competition for adults and live music for all attendees to enjoy. 

"A true community effort. No violence. Great music. What you see is a lot of people having fun and meeting people that they've never seen before," Hurst said. 

Some even participated in a friendly jambalaya, barbeque and boiled food cook-off. A few winners said that although it felt great to win a trophy, it's more rewarding to see the two neighborhoods come together.

"If you have good food and good fellowship, you can bring together kings and peasants," winner of the barbecue cook-off Cleveland Davis said.

Attendees and organizers said that keeping everyone safe is one of the main priorities and encourage that if anyone of the community sees something, they should say something.