Carol Henderson, president of the St. Joseph Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind, knows that people have a certain perception about the visually impaired. But she says one of them shouldn't be that they don't know how to have fun.

"We're party animals here," she says, jokingly.

But St. Joe will get the chance to see just how much family fun they'll have during the National Federation of the Blind Block Party from 5 to 9 p.m. June 27 at the corner of 15th and Mitchell Avenue.

The first-ever event will feature music and a snack bar that serves hot dogs, nachos, soda and water. There also will be 50/50 raffles and the chance to win a prize that's a special "mystery box."

One of the main reasons for the event is to get people down to the NFB's fireworks stand. It's a stand the organization and its volunteers have run for the last 25 years. It will be open outside the NFB St. Joseph branch from June 22 through July 4, and all the proceeds go towards helping implement college scholarships for blind high school kids, paying for their books and purchasing canes for the elderly who are visually impaired. Ms. Henderson hopes this event can steer people towards purchasing fireworks through NFB to help the cause.

"We wanted something different to draw more people in for the fireworks," she says.

Ms. Henderson says she hopes this event is successful enough that it can become a yearly tradition and that if anything, an awareness for the NFB's cause and the blind citizens of St. Joseph comes out of it.

"This is more like an experiment," Ms. Henderson says. "We just want people to know we're there."

For more information on the block party, contact Carol Henderson at 689-6044. For more info on the National Federation of the Blind in St. Joseph and other parts of Missouri, visit www.nfbmo.org.

Lifestyles reporter Blake Hannon can be reached at blakehannon@npgco.com