What is Dave Chappelle's connection to Dayton, Ohio?

People all over the world sent thoughts and prayers to Dayton after the nation's 251st mass shooting this year. But for actor, writer and comedian Dave Chappelle, this one hit close to home.

Chappelle grew up and still resides in Yellow Springs, a village just about 20 miles outside of Dayton.

The comedian will host a block party this coming Sunday in Dayton's Oregon District, where three weeks prior a shooter killed nine and injured 27.

Virtual Globetrotting reported that Chappelle bought over 39 acres of Ohio farmland in January 2005. 

"Turns out you don't need $50 million to live around these parts, just a nice smile and a kind way about you,” the comedian said at a jazz festival in 2006. “You guys are the best neighbors ever... That's why I came back and that's why I'm staying."

On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Chappelle referenced The Simpsons to describe the town of Yellow Springs.

"And I'm, like, the local Krusty the Clown," he added.

Chappelle generally keeps his personal life private, but can occasionally be seen around his hometown of Yellow Springs.

In 2017, Chappelle spoke up about progressive policing after Yellow Springs made national headlines due to resident complaints of "heavy-handed" police tactics.

And last November, Chappelle popped up in an Ohio couple's engagement photo-shoot.

The couple decided to get some pictures outside of Yellow Springs Brewery, where they found Chappelle. At first he declined to be in their photo, but then changed his mind and crept behind the couple to surprise them and their photographer, Jaycee Brammer.

Chappelle's father, the late William David Chappelle III, taught music at Antioch College and was awarded the Walter F. Anderson Award in 2010, according to a post published by Listen Up Antioch.

Chappelle's younger sister, Felicia Chappelle Jones, is a Yellow Springs actress most recently seen starring in a new project entitled "Interrupted Motherhood." The one-woman show premiered at Foundry Theater at Antioch College in Yellow Springs earlier this summer.

Sunday's block party will be hosted by Chappelle and is limited to Dayton and Dayton-adjacent residents, according to the news release from Downtown Dayton Partnership.