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By BARTON PERKINS | Staff Writer

MONTEVALLO – Another National Night Out is coming to Shelby County and will occur in Montevallo on Tuesday, Oct. 17.

Montevallo will host its annual National Night Out from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at the Orr Park Pecan Grove at 940 Island Street. 

“As you may know, the National Night Out event was designed to unite communities, and our gathering is no exception,” Executive Director of Impact Montevallo Sarah Hogan said. 

National Night Out is a community event that allows citizens to meet their neighbors and get to know local first responders. Millions of people and hundreds of cities throughout the United States celebrate the event. National Night Out started back in 1981 when it was established in Pennsylvania by a man named Matt Peskin. 

A longtime member of his local community watch, Peskin wanted to build a better sense of trust and community between local law enforcement, first responders and the communities that they served.   

Thus, National Night Out was born, an event focusing on public safety and building both police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie. The first annual National Night Out event took place in 1984 and involved more than 2.5 million people across 400 communities in 23 states.

National Night Out quickly proved popular amongst citizens and first responders alike and spread throughout the United States and associated territories. Today, Montevallo is one of many cities that come together to celebrate and connect with their first responders each year.

“By reinforcing police-community ties, furnishing information on local resources, and creating opportunities for neighborly camaraderie, we aim to bring everyone together,” said Jennifer Toliver, Community Policing Liaison of the Montevallo Police Department. “Children will have a blast engaging in various interactive activities we have planned.”

Over 40 different community resources will be participating in this year’s event, including SafeHouse of Shelby County, Community Of Hope Mobile Health Clinic, American Red Cross Disaster Relief, Alabama Power, US Army, US Marines, National Guard, US Navy, US Coast Guard, Elder Justice Center, Shelby Emergency Assistance, Better Business Bureau, Edwards Towing and much more will be on site.

This year, Impact Montevallo will be unveiling their (SPOT) Substance Prevention Observation Trailer, which will educate the community about substance use warning signs that are hidden in plain sight to reduce youth substance abuse and encourage conversations with youth about the risks.

 In addition to providing the community with invaluable information throughout the event, they can sign up for many giveaways at the Montevallo Police Department tent. Lucky’s Foodland Plus, found in Montevallo, will generously supply all attendees with a complimentary hot dog meal.