Dozens of communities across Iowa will be taking part in tomorrow evening’s National Night Out.

Matt Paskin is a spokesman for the 31st annual event which brings people together in their neighborhoods to unite in fighting crime.

Paskin says, “It’ll be the block parties, the parades, the cookouts, the festivals, visits from local law enforcement, visits from local officials, all designed to bring people out, get them to know their neighbors better and get them to know local police and sheriffs departments.”

Nationwide, some 16,000 communities will be participating in the National Night Out.

“It kind of turns the clock back to the ’40s and ’50s,” Paskin says. “People knew their neighbors and routinely looked out for each other and everybody knew the cop on the beat. Society is a lot different now and if we’re going to keep up with criminals, we’ve got to do things like this.”

Some of the Iowa cities involved include: Alta, Ames, Audubon County, Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Charles City, Clinton, Coralville, Cresco, Dallas Center, Des Moines, DeWitt, Dubuque, Eagle Grove, Eldora, Estherville, Exira, Fonda, Grinnell, Iowa City, Le Mars, Lisbon, Marion, Mason City, Norway, Oelwein, Plymouth County, Pocahontas, Polk County, Sergeant Bluff, Sigourney, Sioux City, Storm Lake, Urbandale, Webster County and Windsor Heights.

Learn more through the National Association of Town Watch website: www.natw.org.

By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City