More Top Picks Best Premium Noise Canceling Headphones For Focus
Naperville’s National Night Out events kick off Monday with a community-wide gathering at the Fry Family YMCA followed Tuesday by nearly four dozen block parties to be held in neighborhoods all over the city.
“The event at the Y is a good opportunity for residents to take part in a gathering who might not live in a neighborhood having a block party,” said Julie Smith, the Naperville Police Department crime prevention specialist who coordinates all the National Night Out activities in town.
This is Naperville’s 27th annual National Night Out campaign, which has grown in popularity over the years, Smith said. In 2022, an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 people attended the various events across the city, she said.
Night Out is a national effort designed to bring neighbors together as a community and allow them to interact with police officers in a positive setting. The idea is if neighbors interact with each other, bonds are created to build stronger, safer communities, Smith said.
“The block parties are a good way to build camaraderie in neighborhoods and for neighbors to get to know each other,” she said.
Planning for National Night Out typically begins in January, she said. Efforts are funded by businesses and neighborhood organizations.
This will be the second year for the kickoff to be held at the YMCA, 2120 95th St. Prior to that, it was held as Centennial Beach party.
Activities will include a bounce house, games, a display of police equipment, food trucks and an outdoor screening of Disney-Pixar’s “Monsters, Inc.” at sunset, according to the city’s website.
On the actual National Night Out Tuesday, there will be everything from low key gatherings with pot luck dinners to more elaborate celebrations featuring food trucks and live entertainment, Smith said.
One of the more elaborate parties will be held by the Compass Church, where they’ll have live music, inflatables, face painting, a balloon artist, yard games, a touch-a-truck area, and four food trucks, including one from The Original Rainbow Cone, Pastor Jon Kalvig said.
The event will be held on the grounds of the Wheatland Academy, 3003 103rd St., across the street from the church’s south campus. Attendees can park at Scullen Middle School.
Compass held its first National Night Out party in 2019, drawing about 1,000 people, but did not hold subsequent events because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kalvig said.
“We were pleasantly surprised by the (inaugural) turnout and are optimistic we can get that many again this year,” he said.
All told, Naperville will deploy 50 city vehicles to the neighborhood gatherings, including trucks from the fire and public works departments and animal control units, Smith said. Police officers will attend every block party.
Nonperishable food donations for the Loaves & Fishes food pantry will be collected at the YMCA kickoff event, and neighborhoods are being encouraged to conduct food drives of their own.
For her part, Smith said she will try to attend as many of the block parties as she can.
“It’s fun to visit them, to see the interaction and the connections being made,” she said. “The National Night Out events are a way for the police department to show we are there for the public, that if people reach out to us we are there to help them.”
For more information, go to naperville.il.us/enjoy-naperville/national-night-out
More Top Picks Tool Boxes
.Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.