Photos: National Night Out gets bigger and better every year

By Diane Hettrick

Photos by Steven H. Robinson

There were 74 registered block parties in Shoreline for National Night Out on Tuesday, August 1. A few might have slipped through without registering, if they didn't want to close a street.

I didn't get a count, but Lake Forest Park has embraced NNO for years.

It's fun to see all the new groups forming. The Northridge neighborhood in Echo Lake did an all-neighborhood party for the first time. The well-established block parties, like the Ridgecrest group that Steve photographed, just seem to get bigger and better every year.

The gatherings are a great place for people who want to maintain contact. For example, the Ridgecrest party had firefighters with a truck, police officers, including Community Outreach Officer Paula Bates, politician Jill Brady, Schools Superintendent Rebecca Miner and her husband, and probably others I didn't see.

There were balloons, play tables for the little ones, lots of good food, and a casual, laid-back atmosphere where people talked and got to know each other.

And that's the whole point. If you know your neighbors, you know what is normal and usual. You know who lives in the house. You know if they are planning to move - so you call 911 when you see someone moving all the furniture out of the house. And if you are wrong and they are just getting new furniture, the police officers will be very courteous and let them know how lucky they are to have such caring neighbors.

Plan to have a block party next year. You don't have to do anything elaborate - just set up some tables and have a potluck on the street.

Contact Constance Perenyi at 206-801-2253 at the City of Shoreline.

Contact Casey Krzyminski Lake Forest Park Police Department 206-364-8216 x 523