Havre Police National Night Out returns next week

Tuesday, Aug. 29, the Havre Police Department will be hosting this year's National Night Out, at the Montana State University-Northern Student Union Building, a community event with food, raffles and entertainment meant to build relations and education between the community, local law enforcement and the region's service organizations.

Havre Police Capt. Ryan Pearson, one of the event's primary organizers, said the event's attendance has fully recovered from a brief dip during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic and he's hoping to see their numbers continue to go up.

"Come up and check it out, enjoy, have yourself some barbecue and talk to your neighbors," Pearson said.

He said they will have their normal slate of organizations and their activities but will also have some new additions this year as well.

He said Hill County Electric will be bringing their electrical safety trailer, which they can use to teach people about things like how to be safe around damaged power lines and other equipment, which he's excited about.

He said they are also hoping to get a local U.S. Border Patrol helicopter at the event, but that is dependent on whether it's available so he can't really make any guarantees on that one.

Everything else is nailed down, though, he said.

Pearson said representatives of Hill County Sheriff's Office will be there along with representatives from the FBI, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Montana Highway Patrol, Border Patrol, local fire departments and emergency services and search and rescue, all of which will chat with community members and talk about what they do for the area.

He said local organizations, like Child Protective Services, District 4 Human Resources Development Council, the Elks Lodge, 4-H will also be there along with people from the Army National Guard as well.

He said the event's free barbecue is being sponsored by the Havre Lion's Club, which is always a pleasure to work with, and anything they collect as free-will donations will be given to the Havre Food Bank as an effort to give back to the community.

Pearson said the Montana Law Enforcement Museum will hopefully be able to bring their historic police cruiser and NorthWestern Energy will come with their bucket trucks and offer rides beginning at 6 p.m.

He said Hill County Public Health will also be at the event with their mobile unit as well, which will be interesting to see.

He said Crimestoppers is selling tickets for its yearly raffle, with a grand prize of a new pizza oven, and the Havre Police Protective Association will also be selling tickets for their gun raffle, with seven chances to win this year.

BNSF will also be there, he said, and will set up their miniature locomotive to take children on rides around the SUB.

Pearson said the event typically gets between 500 and 600 attendees each year, and they saw a small dip after having to cancel in 2020, he's still hoping to get more attendees as years go on, with a goal of breaking 1,000.

Regardless, he said, this event is a great opportunity for organizations like his to show their community pride, and he's hoping everyone has a good time at this end-of-summer celebration.