When it comes to supporting events in her subdivision, Aurora resident Valerie Elgo says she never misses an opportunity to connect with her neighbors.
“I’ve come to this event many times,” Elgo said at the National Night Out bash at Wheatland Park in Aurora, one of 26 sites around the city on Tuesday celebrating the annual national event designed to build safer cities by getting neighbors, public safety officials and others together.
“I believe this shows kids something about safety first-hand and it’s a great experience and humanizes everything and brings us together,” Elgo said.
National Night Out was launched in the United States 41 years ago, and in Aurora, the celebrations include neighborhood block parties complete with entertainment and plenty of opportunities for residents to connect with neighbors and first responders.
Clayton Muhammad, chief engagement and equity officer for the city of Aurora, said that “National Night Out is a signature night in Aurora and is a bridge between summer and back to school.”
“It’s one of those transitional things that really highlights our public safety relationship with the community,” he said.
Muhammad noted this year’s celebration included locations across all the city’s wards “including small groups with others reaching thousands of people.”
“This year, GRENO is hosting its 20th annual National Night Out which is pretty exciting. We’re looking forward to this being another great year and we’ve been doing this 20-plus years in the community,” he said before Tuesday’s celebrations. “We’re looking forward to communities coming together simultaneously and getting to know each other and their neighbors.”
Maintaining safe neighborhoods is critically tied to residents getting to know local law enforcement officials, Muhammad said, since “sometimes when you’re making that call to 911 you’re in one of your worst moments there.”
“This gives the opportunity to shine a light on the best of moments and the best of times and build those relationships,” he said. “They are far more critical and last a lot longer than those bad moments when you have to call police or fire for an emergency and allows you to focus on the good times.”
Dark skies, coupled with lower-than-usual temperatures and a light mist, kept this year’s crowd at Wheatland Park in the city’s 9th Ward small but there were still plenty of parents and kids eager to participate.
Lindsay Roush of Aurora lives in the 9th Ward in Aurora and said she and her children have come before to the National Night Out event at the park.
“We always see the neighbors out here and it’s just a good time. The kids look forward to it and remembered doing it last year,” Roush said. “They did the pony rides, the tattoos and the fire truck.”
Roush’s daughter Eva, 9, checked out the fire truck and said she wanted to do the bounce house.
Mike Kolkay of Aurora took his son Richard, 2, for his first pony ride at the event and said Tuesday was also his first time at National Night Out.
“I think this great and awesome and they have a lot of activities for the kids, including animals – that’s the biggest thing,” he said. “As far as the message, I think anytime you can get people off their phones or the internet and get them face-to-face it’s going to create more of a cohesive environment for everybody.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
