Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

You can blame Mother Nature for this one. The National Night Out event, scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 1 in Farmville, has been canceled. The Farmville Police Department issued a statement Monday, saying that due to the storms and rain over the past week, the fairgrounds just won’t be able to handle all the vehicles. 

“We love nothing more than getting together with our community,” department officials said in a statement. “Not only does it allow you to speak with us, but we can speak with you directly, and really connect with all of you to make sure we are meeting our community’s needs and providing the best service possible to all members of our community.”

Department officials said they hope to be able to reschedule it, but most likely at this point in the year, the earliest it would be able to happen is next spring. 

“But if (we can’t reschedule), we will still have our other events throughout the year as well as will start planning our National Night Out event for next year,” the statement said. “In our 14 years of National Night Out events, we are extremely proud of the involvement we see from our community year over year. In fact, every year we have put on the event, we have received an award from the National Night Out organization highlighting our outstanding participation, and that is all because you, the members of our community, really show us how much this fellowship and partnership we develop means to all of you.”

A change for National Night Out

Typically, National Night Out is held in August, but due to the heat, Farmville Police Chief Andy Ellington and Prince Edward Sheriff Tony Epps decided to move the project to October. Last year was the first event held under the new schedule.
Bringing everyone together goes back to the original concept for National Night Out , which was started back in 1984. The goal, both here locally and in other celebrations across the country, is to build communities and develop relationships between law enforcement and the residents they serve.
The way that happens has changed quite a bit since the first National Night Out in Merion, Pennsylvania. On that first Tuesday in August 1984, local residents simply turned on their porch lights and sat in front of their homes as a symbol of community.
Over time, those front porch vigils turned into festivals, cookouts and block parties. Farmville Police said they look forward to the next event.  

“This is the first time in our years of this event we have had to cancel due to weather, and while we hope it is the last, we all know that sometimes Mother Nature has different ideas for us,” the department said in the statement. “However, please know we absolutely look forward to the next time we can get together with all of you and will do everything in our power to make that time special!”