Moorestown To Celebrate Its First National Night Out

MOORESTOWN, NJ — Moorestown will now be among communities across the United States spending Aug. 6 celebrating National Night Out — an initiative to improve bonds between police and the public during an evening of family fun.

National Night Out began out of the Philadelphia suburbs. In the 1970s, Matt Peskin volunteered for Lower Merion's neighborhood watch, patrolling his neighborhood and often collaborating with local police. He found the collaboration between law enforcement and civilians to be successful and began collaborating with similar groups, establishing the National Association of Town Watch in 1981.

But Peskin decided something more was needed. So three years later, the association celebrated the first National Night Out, which involved 400 communities across 23 states.

The annual event has spread to 17,000 communities encompassing 38 million people, according to National Night Out's website. Many of the events combine festivities with education about local police initiatives.

Moorestown's inaugural National Night Out will feature food trucks, face painting, a meet and greet with first responders and more. Plus, the police department will take on the firefighters and EMS in the first responders Wiffle ball game.

The event begins at 6 p.m. Aug. 6 at Jack Hannon Full Throttle Wiffle Ball Park at Memorial Field (254 S Church St.). See the Facebook event.

Find out more about National Night Out.