National Night out set for Aug. 7

HURON – Is tossing a pie in the face of a cop on your bucket list?
If so, answering a trivia question about 911 is your ticket to fulfill that goal, and without any repercussions.
It’s one of many activities going on at this year’s National Night Out event in Campbell Park – set for 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday in Campbell Park.
“It’s a fun night for everybody to come out to the park,” said Capt. Mark Johnson, who is once again spearheading it. “Plan on being there for a couple of hours, take in some entertainment, grab some food and visit the different groups that are out there.”
The first 200 kids will get to chomp on free hotdogs, courtesy of the First Presbyterian Church.
At 6 p.m., a donut-eating contest will get under way.
“Everybody’s welcome to participate in that. They just have to sign up with the police department,” Johnson said. Sign up can be done that evening at the park.
Nordby Center for Recreation will have a Zumba demonstration at 6:30 p.m. and Detective Derek Layher and “Cody” will have a K-9 demonstration at 7 p.m.

But there will be so much more.
Among the organizations participating this year are Huron All Star hockey, Beadle County Humane Society, Jan Manolis Family Safe Center, Huron Heartland Hunter Special Olympics, Celebrate Recovery, Beadle County Drug Court and Western Way Cowboy Church. Horizon Health will do health checks.
The Huron Fire Department, Huron Ambulance, Highway Patrol, Beadle County Sheriff’s Office and NorthWestern Energy will have vehicles on display.
National Night Out is a campaign involving citizens, law enforcement agencies, civic groups, businesses and local officials designed to heighten crime and drug prevention awareness and generate support for and participation in local anti-crime programs.
Communities across the United States have been hosting the events for 35 years. For Huron, it’s been about seven years.
The idea is to bring people together, Johnson said.
“Take back your neighborhood,” he said. “It’s to get people interacting with each other, meet each other and find out what resources are actually in town and have a good, fun time.”
And there’s also a chance to decorate a cop with a pie.
But first, bone up on your 911 trivia.
“Get it right,” Johnson said, “to be able to pie one of the police officers.”

Angelina Della Rocco/Plainsman file photo
Young people in attendance at last year’s National Night Out take a few moments to meet the Huron K-9 officer, “Cody,“ with his handler Derek Layher, at the event in Campbell Park. Tuesday is this year’s National Night Out.