National Night Out Returns To Arlington In 2021

ARLINGTON, VA — National Night Out 2021 events in Arlington on Aug. 3 are part of a nationwide push to strengthen police and community relations.

The nationwide event “promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer,” according to the National Association of Town Watch, the organization that founded the annual early August event in 1984.

In 2020, Arlington County celebrated National Night Out virtually due to the pandemic. This year, the following National Night Out events are planned for Tuesday night in Arlington:

• The Arlington, A Condominium 2733 S. Walter Reed Drive, 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
• Arlington County Office of Voter Registration & Elections Ranked Choice Voting Mock Election 2100 Clarendon Blvd., 2-4pm and 5-7 p.m.
• Arlington Village Community Engagement Committee 1400 S. Edgewood St., 5:30-7:30 p.m.
• Dominion Hills Civic Association 1060 N. Liberty St., 6-8 p.m.
• Green Valley Civic Association 3500 23rd St. S. 5-7 p.m.
• Lyon Village Citizens Association 1800 N. Highland St., 7-8 p.m.
• National Landing BID, Crystal City Civic Association, Arlington Ridge Civic Association, & Aurora Highlands Civic Association 101 12th St. S. 5-8 p.m.
• Starbucks in Arlington Heights 4526 Lee Highway, 5-7 p.m.
• Starbucks in Clarendon 2690 Clarendon Blvd., 5-8 p.m.
• Starbucks in Courthouse 2200 Clarendon Blvd., 5-8 p.m.
• Starbucks in Penrose 2413 Columbia Pike, 5-8 p.m.
• 1st Street S. Neighbors 4420 1st St., S. 5:30-8 p.m.
• 4900 N. 14th Street Neighbors 4903 14th St., N. 5-7 p.m.

Since 1984, communities across the country have held National Night Out events on the first Tuesday of August. Block parties, festivals, parades, cookouts and other community events have been popular ways to celebrate the outreach-focused event.

More than 2 million Americans took part in the first National Night Out. Now, the event is celebrated in more than 16,000 communities across all 50 states, according to the National Association of Town Watch.

Many National Night Out events are back in 2021 after widespread cancellations last summer due to the coronavirus pandemic.

For example, businesses in Marple Township, Pennsylvania, are donating goods to be used during a night of music, games and demonstrations. In Palos Hills, Illinois, kids can play in large inflatable toys, and a face-painter will be on hand at a local park.

Tim McCarthy, a retired Orland Park, Illinois, police chief, has called National Night Out “a great way for kids to meet their local police officers in a relaxed, comfortable atmosphere unlike an emergency setting.”

McCarthy, a former Secret Service member best known for taking a bullet for President Ronald Reagan in a 1983 assassination attempt, told Patch in 2019 that police officers “enjoy seeing everyone come back each year to see all that’s happening with the police department, and to have a fun evening.”