A summer just isn’t summer in Hibbing without National Night Out (NNO) at Bennett Park.
Since 2016, the Hibbing Police Department has held the annual “party in the park” as a means of forging relationships between police officers and residents.
“We host to this build good community relationships,” said Officer Brittany Dillinger, K9 Handler and event organizer. “We want to have a good rapport with residents and have them get to know us so they can feel more comfortable when they need to get a hold of us. Whether the interaction is on the worst day of their lives or just walking down the street and wanting to talk about the weather, we are all for it.”
NNO will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6, at Bennett Park. This year, the line-up of activities, community resources and food choices are impressive. The event is free and open to everyone.
And yes, we mean everyone.
“This is for anyone who wants to come,” said Dillinger. “And for those who say they’ve never heard of the event or haven’t attended in the past, we hope they come too. It’s fun to meet new people. Come see what it’s all about.”
So, what’s on tap?
- Free food, including pizza slices, burgers, hot dogs and ice cream
- Booths by 20+ area groups, organizations and business
- Emergency services equipment and personnel, including Hibbing Police, Hibbing Fire/EMS, Minnesota DNR, Minnesota State Patrol and St. Louis County squad. The Life Link III helicopter is also anticipated to make an appearance.
- Meet K9 Officer Dottie. K9 Murphy may also be stopping by.
- Kid-friendly activities, such as face painting, bounce houses and a photo booth
- Demonstrations, Mr. Ed’s Farm and more
Unique to this year’s event will be the City of Hibbing’s booth. City leaders plan to share information about the current “Your Safety, Our Priority” plan to build a new regional public safety center that would unite the police department and fire department under one roof. The renderings of what the new center could look like will be on display, and those familiar with the local sales tax proposal will be present to answer questions.
While there, engage with Hibbing law enforcement officers and firefighters/EMTs. Oh, and check out the rigs too.
“We do what we do because we like people, and we care about the community. We are more than just uniforms,” noted Dillinger. “This is an opportunity to go beyond the uniform and see that we are humans who like to help humans.”
The event is made possible through the generosity of several community-focused businesses volunteers that were eager to donate resources, money and time to this event and some grant funding.
Feedback from past years has been extremely positive.
“A lot of people say it’s ‘cool’ and ‘awesome’ that the police department does something like this for the community,” said Dillinger. “We know people are looking forward to it, and it truly is our biggest event of the year during which we get to engage with the public. I personally look forward to it because I get to engage with people outside a service call.”
Yet the relationship-forging doesn’t apply solely to law enforcement. All residents and nearby-neighbors are encouraged to get to know each other under these positive circumstances to bring back a sense of togetherness.
“We have a very good community,” said Dillinger. “If something good happens in the community, we come together and when something bad happens in the community, we come together. This event is about coming together, having a good time and leaving happy.”
