About 300 people turned out for La Grange Park’s 19th National Night Out in late July.
The event to foster positive relations between the community and police was scaled back from recent years, but did include neighboring Western Springs Police.
“It’s a day for the community to see us as members of the community and not just police officers,” La Grange Park Commander Fran Marroco said as the event got underway at Memorial Park. “We’re combining with the Western Springs department this year, and may do it again depending on how it goes. We’re working on developing more involvement between our departments.”
Western Springs Deputy Chief Ashlee Niezgoda praised the annual event.
“It brings the community and the police departments together in a collaborative effort,” she said.
La Grange Park is one of 156 Illinois towns to participate in the event that has grown from being a small neighborhood gathering in suburban Pennsylvania to a national phenomena.
The National Night Out website describes the event as a “community-building campaign” that promotes “police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie.”
It began in the early 1970s when officials in the Lower Merion Philadelphia suburb began a community watch event that in 1981 grew into the National Association of Town Watch and then morphed into the first-ever National Night Out event in 1984.
In 2021, La Grange Park staged a parade lasting about two and one-half hours, drawing about 1,000 people. Because of the pandemic, the Night Out event was canceled and the parade stood alone as the Village’s only participation in the national event.
Last year’s event was a much bigger affair, with food vendors, five bands and a charity golf event. With only the parade the year before, and a virtual event in 2020, Village leaders had indicated that they wanted the 2022 event to be special.
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.