Free Family Fun At National Night Out In Haddonfield Area Tuesday

HADDON, NJ — National Night Out returns to Haddon Township on Tuesday, the police department said on its Facebook page.

An estimated 38 million people are expected to participate in one of approximately 16,000 National Night Out events across the United States that will be held this year, according to the National Association of Town Watch, an organization that helps facilitate many National Night Out festivities.

These days, the annual event usually consists of carnivals, block parties, barbecues or other free events organized by communities and police departments that are geared toward the whole family enjoying, according to the U.S. Justice Department, which helped establish National Night Out.

Simultaneously, crime prevention messages are conveyed and relationships between law enforcement and residents are fostered, the U.S. Justice Department continued.

The 2022 National Night Out in Haddon, which is teaming up with Audubon Park for this year's event, runs from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday at the Crystal Lake Pool.

Don't live in that town? Below, find specific times and locations of some other National Night Out celebrations being held near Haddon and Audubon Park on Tuesday.

• Audubon = 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Francis J. Ward Recreation Center
• Barrington = 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Wish Upon a Star Park on Reading Avenue
• Collingswood = 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Scottish Rite Auditorium on the White Horse Pike
• Gibbsboro =6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Cricket Field
• Haddon Heights = 6 p.m. at McLaughlin Norcross Memorial Dell
• Oaklyn = 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on West Clinton Avenue
• Voorhees =6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Connolly Park on Centennial Boulevard
• Waterford = 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the municipal building

The National Night Out events being held this year are much different than some of the first National Night Out celebrations held in 1984, which were celebrated by roughly 2.5 million people in about 400 communities across the United States, according to the National Association of Town Watch.

One of those early events was in the Pennsylvania suburbs of Philadelphia, where residents participated by turning on their porch lights, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Another early National Night Out celebration held in Boston consisted of a public reading of a proclamation that discussed the significance of the day and the event, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

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