HANOVER COUNTY, Va. — The Hanover County Sheriff's Office kicked off National Night Out, which is this Tuesday, a bit early with a festival at Green Top on Saturday.
The event offered dozens of vendors, live music, food trucks, activities, contests and more.
"National Night Out started in 1984, Sgt. Steve Wills said. "A lot of police departments and law enforcement agencies realized that they had a lot of these types of community engagement events... and neighborhood watch events, but they really didn't have a platform or a forum to bring all of these people together."
FULL INTERVIEW: All about Hanover's National Night Kickoff at Green Top
Organizers said family-friendly events like these help community members create connections with their local law enforcement and other public safety agencies.
"This is about community engagement," Wills said. "It's about us getting to know the citizens in our county. It's about the residents here getting to know us and forming partnerships so that if we work well with the community and they work well with us, then that always helps keeping crime trends down and staying on top of concerns within your neighborhoods."
For folks who missed Saturday's kick-off festival, the sheriff's office will host a parade on Tuesday along Route 1.
Deputies will also stop by the 50 other National Night Out events happening across the county Tuesday evening.
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