It’s an annual community event that promotes law enforcement, community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie since the early 1980s, and the Avon Police Department will host one of the most popular National Night Out events in the county this summer.
Returning for its ninth year, National Night Out will be held at Avon High School from 5 to 9 p.m. July 24.
Though many of its popular events will return, the hours have changed — for good reason.
“For the last few years, we’ve had a sensory block hour. We don’t have the loud music, no flashing lights and it’s just not an overstimulating environment,” said Avon Assistant Chief of Police Brian Nugent. “It was very popular, but the feedback we got when we started it at 4 p.m. was it was too early for a lot of people to get home from work and make it over, so this year, from 5 to 6 p.m. will be our sensory hour and we’ll end the event at 9 p.m.”
Everything is free to participants, making it difficult to gauge how many people attend, but Nugent said it’s safe to say at least 4,500 community members come out to celebrate.
“We know we do thousands of hot dogs, corn dogs and funnel cakes. We do take waivers for some of the attractions like the rock wall, gyroscope and the inflatables, so that gives us a ballpark number,” Nugent said.
Those popular attractions are expected to return, including a zipline, K-9 demonstrations and first responder vehicles and equipment displays.
With so many corporate and individual supporters, organizers have been able to add more to the event each year.
“It happens organically. Through donations from Hendricks County Bank, Walmart, Meijer, Target and many, many others, we’ve been able to buy a funnel cake machine, for example, and then with the cash donations, we get funnel cake mix. Pepsi and Coca-Cola donate pallets of drinks and Home City Ice supplies all the ice for our sno cones,” Nugent said. “So many different components and so many small businesses and large corporations get involved.”
Nugent said one of the crowd favorites is the five-gallon buckets donated by Lowe’s each year. They’re used like an Easter egg basket or Halloween bag to collect free gifts, water bottles and other items throughout the evening.
“People ask for the buckets. It’s not uncommon for the pictures to have a little one holding a Lowe’s bucket with a bag of cotton candy sticking out of it along with all the things he’s collected,” Nugent said. “This support is very meaningful to us.”
There will also be vendors promoting various nonprofits, community resources and more.
“Those vendors are there because they want a healthier, safer and supportive community. So, you’ll see mental health counselors, veterans support, adoption animals and other resources,” Nugent said. “We want to help connect people with the services we have available in Hendricks County.”
It’s not all fun and games.
For those planning the event, it’s a lot of hard work. So much so, they’ve formed a committee with members from the Avon Police Department and the Town of Avon to create an event that is memorable and fulfills the purpose behind National Night Out.
“This only happens because of the ridiculous number of volunteers that make this a success. It’s not easy to ask someone to spend four hours in 90-degree weather making hot funnel cakes, but again, we’re grateful for the support and we receive overwhelming good feedback from the sponsors to the high school and everyone involved,” Nugent said.
Perhaps the most meaningful part of the evening is the moment of silence — a recognition of law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty and the presentation of the freedom bell by a family with strong military ties.
“It’s complete silence throughout the venue. That’s very meaningful to us. I’ve had friends who have lost their lives in the line of duty, so we want to take time to recognize these men and women,” Nugent said.
Ultimately, the purpose of National Night Out is to make connections.
Police officers and other volunteers serve food, engage with children and families and make positive memories.
“We want people to see the human side of our officers. These are people who live in your community and care deeply about your community. It takes the formality out of our roles, and we can connect with those who care about what is happening in public safety and support what we do,” Nugent said. “A lot of our officers talk about how much they enjoy the event. Even some, after moving on to another agency, will come back and talk about it being their favorite memory in Avon.”
