National Night Out events in Westminster

National Night Out events in Westminster by Kevin Dayhoff

Tuesday, August 5th, 2025: By all reports, National Night Out events in Westminster – and throughout Carroll County were well attended and a great success. It was great evening. Please enjoy a few pictures from visiting several of the events.

This was the result of a great deal of behind the scenes coordination and organization by a dedicated wonderful array of community organizers. Folks such as the Women’s Club of Westminster, Mission BBQ, Lindsay Amos Jensen – just to name a few.

This year there were events at Dutterer Park - 6pm-8pm; Furnace Hills - South Hill Ct -6pm-8pm; Carroll Lutheran Village 6:30 pm- 7:30 pm; Belle Grove Square - 6pm- 8pm; Bishop Garth Apartments - 5:30 pm- 7:30 pm; and Eagleview Estates - 6pm - 8 pm.

Caroline and I joined Westminster Mayor Mona Becker, and Councilmembers Dan Hoff and Ann Gilbert representing our colleagues Greg Pecoraro, and Tony Chiavacci; in representing Westminster elected officials at all of the National Night Out events in Westminster. We were joined by Carroll County Delegate to Annapolis Chris Tomlinson – along with Allan Culver, Jeff Schuster, Haven Shoemaker, and Tim Weber from the Carroll County State’s Attorney’s Office.

The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office listed the following events: - Manchester: CCSO Forensics and K9 Kane; - Hampstead: APC display and K9 Finn; - New Windsor: CCSO’s mobile command bus and K9 Lazar; Union Bridge: CCSO School Resource Officer and K9 Rom; and Sykesville: CCSO Drone Unit, K9 Dax, and Recruitment Team.

As long as I can remember the Westminster City Police Department has done a wonderful job of community outreach with the annual National Night Out program.

According to a brief history of National Night Out written by Janet Quiroga, for the website publication, “Victim Support Services, “National Night Out is an annual event where communities across the country connect with law enforcement. The focus of National Night Out is to get neighborhoods actively involved in preventing crime in their community. Here is how NNO all got started:

“National Night Out was introduced in August of 1984 through an already established network of law enforcement agencies, neighborhood watch groups, civic groups, state and regional crime prevention associations and volunteers across the nation.

“The first annual National Night Out involved 2.5 million neighbors across 400 communities in 23 states. National Night Out grew to become a celebration beyond just front porch vigils and symbolic efforts amongst neighbors to send a message of neighborhood camaraderie. Neighborhoods across the nation began to host block parties, festivals, parades, cookouts and various other community events with safety demonstrations, seminars, youth events, visits from emergency personnel, exhibits and more.” [https://victimsupportservices.org/history-of-national-night-out/] Apparently Quiroga credits the National Night Out web site publication, https://natw.org/about/, with the history information.