National Night Out returns to Stafford Marketplace tomorrow (Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021).
The annual event usually occurs at the county’s largest shopping center in August but was postponed due to the coronavirus. The event will also feature a shift in location. It will be held in front of the Lowes Home Improvement Store, instead of the Target store at the shopping center, as the Target store is undergoing renovations.
There will be a total of 87 vendors at this year’s event, down 63 from 2019, the last year the celebration was held. Expect everything from food trucks to a rock wall built for climbing.
“And we’re excited…,” said Sgt. Carroll Burgess, with the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office. She and four other sheriff’s office employees spent most of the year planning the event.
National Night Out is free to attend and is designed to encourage neighbors to go outside and meet their neighbors and create safer neighborhoods throughout the community. The event has long been a community-building tool embraced by law enforcement agencies locally and across the U.S.
Fire and rescue crews will be on hand, too, to allow children to climb up into a working fire engine. About 3,000 people are expected to attend the event, down from 7,500 in 2019.
The event begins at 5 p.m. and lasts until 8 p.m.
“…the response we’re getting from the community, they’re excited. They’re excited that it’s in October, in the fall,” added Burgess.
