Red Oak Police Chief Justin Rhamy reports Red Oak/Montgomery County First Responders “and all of our friends in SW IA, will be joining forces on Aug. 3rd along with 38 million others in celebrating National Night Out.” Rhamy says “This is the 38th year of the National event (the 5th year in Red Oak), and there will be more than 10 other Iowa cities officially registered for the event.” It takes place at Fountain Square Park in Red Oak, August 3rd, from 6-until 8-p.m.

The Chief says “Red Oak/Montgomery Co. is proud to state that the theme of the evening is Public Safety-Safety of the Public.” First Responders who have confirmed their plans to be on hand include those from:

• The Red Oak P-D
• Red Oak Fire Department
• Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office
• Montgomery County Communications/Corrections
• Montgomery County EMA
• Villisca Fire & Rescue
• Elliott First Responders
• Grant Fire
• The Iowa State Patrol, Iowa DOT Motor Vehicle Enforcement
• Secret Service
• The IA National Guard
• BNSF (Railroad) Police
• Iowa DNR
• Montgomery County Conservation
• and LifeNet.

Surrounding counties/cities have been contacted, according to Rhamy, and first responder invites have been extended. He says “We always have a great showing of cooperation and support from our neighbors, as we all truly work together.” The Safety of the Public aspect, will focus on:

• Fire Safety (Local FD, Elks)
• Farm Safety (AgriVision, IA Corn Growers)
• Health related (MCMH, MOCO Public Health, Zion, Boystown, MOCO Child Abuse Council, Blank Children’s Hosp, Kiwanis, State Farm, Red Oak Comm Schools, Tracy Vannausdle Driver Ed), and others.

LifeNet will land. The Prescott Car Club will be there also. Throughout the Park and around the square, there will be FREE food (Elks, Rainbow, Eagles, Walnut Creek Acres, HyVee, Fareway, United Group, Rotary, Grand Theater, and others), info booths and handouts, displays, games, SuperHeroes, vintage police and fire vehicles, (Prescott car club, racecars, photo booth, tribute vehicles and displays, and monster trucks. To date we have over 96 total partners helping with food/displays/ vehicles/ exhibits/events/and other participating factors and many more expected by August.

There will be a funnel cake trailer, a balloon artist, an Iowa State Patrol K9 presentation is in the works, and it’s possible a small auction will be held for similar events to be held in the future. There will be a Treasure Hunt Event ongoing that evening sponsored by the Red Oak Express. The Chief invites you to please join them at beautiful Fountain Square Park for a FUN and FREEEEEEEEE, evening. A Reminder to residents of Red Oak: The Square area and one block in each direction will be shut down at 4:00 pm August 3rd, to allow for set up and all of the partners to get prepared for the night. As a sign of support please turn your porchlight on for the evening. The National theme is to take back the night, take back our neighborhoods and communities.