Morganton Public Safety hosts second National Night Out

Local first responders and community members came together Tuesday evening on the Historic Burke County Courthouse Square as Morganton Public Safety presented its second annual National Night Out.

The two-hour event included a fire truck show, K-9 and SWAT team demonstrations, a law enforcement officer car show, food, a bounce house, face painting, and more.

National Night Out was established in Philadelphia in 1984 and has since been held annually in communities across the country, and it is an event that Morganton Public Safety Chief Ryan Lander hopes to see grow locally in the years to come.

“Basically, it’s to help boost police-community partnerships, promote neighborhood camaraderie, and kind of heighten crime and drug prevention awareness,” Lander said when discussing the purpose of the event. “So, it’s just us being in a place to be able to facilitate positive interactions with the community that we serve and protect and provide emergency services for.”

Lander noted that attendance increased “from year one to year two,” estimating that “at least a few hundred people were there.” He also explained that National Night Out provides an opportunity for local residents to get to know first responders in a different light.

“It lets people and children realize that we’re kind of just like their dads because we are dads, we’re just like their neighbors because we are neighbors,” Lander said. “We just have different professions.

“The community gets to see the relationships we have with fellow first responders, they get to see it up close and personal. Because all those agencies that were there — whether they’re fire, EMS, or police — we have relationships with, and from time to time they call upon us, or we call upon them and work together.”