Juan Duque, left, and Sam Nitcher flip burgers in 2007 during the third annual BBQ & Block Party on 10th Street between Vermont and Kentucky streets.

Based on the clouds that brought no rain, the hot dogs and hamburgers, the music and the crowd of about 175 people, all parties involved were calling Sunday’s block party a success.

“It’s familial and it’s neighborly,” said Carol Pilant, who coordinated the event. “It’s a time when everybody seems to be on equal footing.”

Lawrence Community Shelter, Lawrence Interdenominational Nutrition Kitchen and Oread Neighborhood Association sponsored the third annual barbecue and block party, which took place on 10th Street between Vermont and Kentucky streets. Loring Henderson, the Lawrence Community Shelter’s director, and others estimated about 60 percent of people who attended the event were homeless.

Others who attended included neighbors from Oread Neighborhood and Old West Lawrence, shelter board members and people from Lawrence churches.

“It’s an all-American thing. In the middle of the hot summer, you stand in front of a hot grill and eat hot food,” Henderson said of Sunday’s event.

Henderson said the annual block party has become an outreach event, especially as part of the shelter’s recent “good neighbor” agreement. The Salvation Army, 946 N.H., operates the other major downtown homeless shelter.

Leaders of both shelters recently have discussed moving out of the downtown area. At times, the relationship between the community shelter, 214 W. 10th St., and its neighbors has been rocky. Sunday night, both sides suggested an improvement in relations somewhat in the last year.

Candice Davis, an Oread Neighborhood resident, said the block party showed an effort on behalf of the shelter to do something for the neighborhood. She said homelessness is a complicated issue, which involves the need for mental health services and other assistance.

“As a community, we need a lot more help because this problem’s not going to go away,” Davis said.

Ben Allen, 46, who now lives in East Lawrence, said he was homeless for one month about a year ago because he ran into financial troubles and eviction. He said the event gave people from area neighborhoods a chance to meet face-to-face with someone homeless, many of whom he said were not “chronically homeless,” like most people believe.

“A lot of times, people find themselves in the situation suddenly,” Allen said.

Musician Sally Howard, who is also chief counsel for Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, performed during the party.