By Bruce Karnick [email protected]

If there was ever a year that people just needed to get out and see their neighbors, it’s 2021, and National Night Out provided that opportunity. According to the NNO Wiki, NNO started simply in 1984. The idea was neighbors turned their porch lights on and sat in front of their homes. The first night involved 2.5 million residents across 400 communities in 23 states. To show the growth, NNO 2016 involved 38 million residents in 16,000 communities.

The main reason behind National Night Out was to increase awareness around law-enforcement efforts like drug use prevention, neighborhood watch programs and other anti-crime programs. It evolved into a way to get to know not only your neighbors, but the police officers, firefighters, other emergency services personnel, and elected officials in an open, inviting, and fun way.

Hastings has been participating for several years now, hosting a city sponsored event at Lions Park while encouraging neighborhoods to host their own ‘block parties’. 19 parties scattered around Hastings in Neighborhoods were able to request Police/Fire/EMS visits through the city to have the opportunity to visit with the folks that are out protecting us every day. All 19 of the Hastings area parties requested a visit.

The city sponsored event at Lions Park is coordinated by the Public Safety Advisory Commission and it has grown since the first city organized one in 2018. Tennis Sanitation brings a garbage truck down for kids to explore and get their picture in, Hastings Police Department brings their Mobile Command Center as well as cruisers and their K-9 unit. There is always a fire truck and ambulance there to check out, and whenever possible, they invite State Patrol to bring down a helicopter. The close flyover, landing, and take off of the helicopter is a sight to see.

Local businesses setup tables and give away small gifts like candy, stickers, coloring books and bags. Members of the Public Safety Advisory Commission and Parks Commission and others helped distribute more than 500 meals to visitors. The meals consisted of a hot dog, chips, water, cookies and Culver’s frozen custard. There were bounce houses for kids to play in, the Hastings Hawks set up a pitching station outside the ice rink and had a batting station inside the ice rink. Rivercity popcorn brought their popcorn wagon and gave out free popcorn. The YMCA brought a bunch of their summer camp games and of course, kids were all over the awesome playground equipment.

A huge thank you goes out to the event sponsors and community partners for putting on a great night out: Starkson Family Life Celebration Chapel, Green Mill, Ptacek’s IGA, Cub Foods, Spool House, Rivercity Popcorn, DQ, Culvers, Bryon Ascheman, Hastings Area YMCA, Dakota County Environmental Resource Division, Pleasant Hill Library, Tennis Sanitation, Hastings Hawks, IDEA, MN State Patrol, 360 Communities, Hastings Bus Company, and Schommer Insurance. Of course, big praises to the Public Safety Advisory Commission, Parks Commission, Officer Whitney Rinowski and Paige Marschall Bigler from Parks and Recreation for their hard work to make the night a huge success.

Visitors to the National Night Out event at Lions Park were treated to Hot Dogs, Chips, Cookies, Water, and Culvers frozen custard. Photo by Bruce Karnick