National Night Out set for next week

Havre's National Night Out is set for Tuesday, Aug. 30, 6-8 p.m. at Montana State University-Northern's SUB Drive, with a free barbecue, live music and plenty of activities for youth and families interacting with law enforcement, other first responders and their community partners.

Across the country, National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign to enhance the relationship between community members and law enforcement as well as the agencies, organizations and businesses they partner with.

Havre Police Sgt. Ryan Pearson, who has organized the event since 2012, said Night Out is about crime and drug awareness and prevention and about safety, but its focus is on a way to get all these entities together with their community members in a fun atmosphere to make a connection as neighbors.

"It's a way for us to also give back to the community in a different setting," he said, and it is open to everyone.

Attendees will be able to interact with representatives from hosts Havre Police Department, along with Hill County Sheriff's Office, Montana Highway Patrol, U.S. Border Patrol, Army National Guard, FBI and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, as well as Havre Fire Department, Bear Paw Volunteer Fire Department and Hill County Search and Rescue .

Service organizations that are support partners also will be represented there, such as District 4 HRDC, Victim Services and CASA, along with civic organizations like Lions Club, Elks Club and Scouts as well as the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line, NorthWestern Energy and possibly BNSF Railway.

Food

The Havre event, Pearson said, will have live music by Blind Luck as well as a free barbecue with pulled-pork sandwiches and some side dishes which he credited to hosts Havre Lions Club with help from Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods donating the buns and Northern's food service staff pitching in with their time and facility. He said they feed 500 to 700 people at the event every year.

While the barbecue is free, they do accept free-will donations as a fundraiser for Havre Food Bank.

"I know times are kind of tough for the food bank so we're hoping we can raise a little money for them," Pearson said.

Havre Police Protective Association and Crime Stoppers will also be holding their fundraiser drawings that night, with a seven-gun raffle and a lawn chair and umbrella set raffle, respectively. People can get tickets there, he said, or ahead of time at the police station.

Activities

Pearson said that all the first responders will have equipment on hand for people to look at and ask questions about with patrol vehicles, fire trucks, UTVs, all kinds of gear and more, including a classic police car brought in by Montana Law Enforcement Museum.

Havre Police will have a mock crime scene for kids to look at and do some sleuthing, he said. Fish, Wildlife and Parks brings a boat and likely some furs and horns for identification challenges. Bear Paw Fire will bring wildland firefighting equipment and have giveaways. Search and Rescue always has an activity as well.

NorthWestern always brings two bucket trucks, Pearson said, and riding in the lifts is very popular with the kids.

"Those guys have been great for us as well," he added. "They usually stay a little bit later than 8 o'clock to finish up with the kids who've been waiting in line and make sure everyone gets a little trip in the bucket truck."

National Guard always brings a climbing wall or a bungee run and other activities, and Border Patrol will bring a lot of their equipment, Pearson said, but a highlight from them is always their helicopter if weather and work allow them to make that happen.

He said he's hoping he'll be able to get BNSF Railway to come again because they were a hit with the kids at last year's event.

"Last year they came up and brought the mini train and ran it around on the drive until, I think, a tire fell off and they had to shut it down for the night, but it was a lot of fun for the kids to get a ride around on the train," Pearson added. "We try to get as much stuff as we can do because we want the community to come together ... seeing us and being able to interact with us and come up and mingle."

Pearson said he may have grown a few gray hairs over the years trying to get the event organized, but he enjoys the experience, seeing the everyone come together in the community.

"I like to see the community involvement, seeing the participation and getting new groups to come up and be a part of it and getting the word out to the community to come up and check out all the law enforcement partners in the area, how we work together, the volunteer fire department, the fire department, the service agencies - all these different organizations that we know and work with.

"I would love to see it get bigger and bigger and more people to come up," he added. " ... I think there's a little bit of something for everybody to do and I invite as many people to come up as can make it. Come up and enjoy some music and some barbecue and have some fun."