It’s less than two weeks away, but the whole community is already looking forward to the annual shindig of National Night Out.

National Night Out in Suffolk is a grand affair, and the community pulls out all the stops to make it amazing. That’s evidenced by the fact that Suffolk’s event has ranked No. 1 in 2008, 2009, 2014, 2016 and 2018 and has placed in the top five in the country for 13 straight years, as judged by the National Association of Town Watch for cities with populations between 50,000 and 100,000.

The idea of National Night Out is to meet your neighbors and law enforcement officers who work in your area and present a united front against crime in your neighborhood.

Different communities in Suffolk play that out in ways large and small on National Night Out. In some neighborhoods, you will find a handful of neighbors having an ice cream social or cookout on someone’s front lawn or in a cul-de-sac; in other places, you will find large gatherings with attendance in the thousands with entertainment, games and more to entertain the crowd.

Whatever way National Night Out works in your neighborhood, we urge you to attend. If you check into it and your neighborhood does not yet participate, perhaps you could attend another neighborhood’s event, get some ideas for next year and start organizing.

However you participate, we’ll just be glad to see you. Make sure to lock your doors, turn on your porch lights and come out and have some fun!

For more information or to find the closest event to you, visit www.suffolknno.com.