Community support strong for National Night Out

Red Oak’s recent National Night Out event on Aug. 5 once again was greeted with massive community support.
Red Oak Police Chief Justin Rhamy and community relations liaison Amber Jennings reflected on the recent event. Rhamy said he was pleased at how the event has continued to grow since it was started in 2016.
“We can never give you a definitive number count as far as how many we believe attended, but right off the top of my head, we had enough food for 2,200 and by the end of the night, all that food was gone. An overall number count is hard to give, but just in the areas that I was at and where I could see completely across the park, it was a full house for sure. I’d estimate we had an attendance of 2,200 to 2,600 people that night,” Rhamy explained. “It also seems like every year we get some new participants that want to come up and partake in the vendor side of it. We again had a few new ones this year, so that’s always great to see.”
Jennings added it was great to see the event draw the level of participation it received for a relatively short time.
“For the several years I’ve done it, it makes me feel proud. I love how people just keep reaching out more and more. There was only two people I reached out to this year to participate in the event: the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marines. The other ones that were new this year reached out to us, so it’s nice that people are still wanting to come and join. I think they see all the social media posts how well-attended it is, so they want to be part of it,” commented Jennings.
Rhamy said it was a humbling experience to see the event all come together, year after year.
“We’ve obviously done it for nine years now, and I’ll tell you in my time here, I didn’t ever anticipate it would be this big. I really expected all the subsequent events would have crowds that were something similar to what we had our very first year, which was around a 400-500 person attendance. It’s amazing to me that it’s just grown exponentially from there,” Rhamy stated. “It’s cool to see that all the support from the community members who come out, and all the support from the local businesses and local vendors who come out and participate and want to spend that night with the community. Members of the community also take the opportunity just to socialize as well.”
That participation, Jennings said, has led to very little empty space even with some unfortunate cancellations. 
“Ironically, at last minute we had some vendors that, for whatever reason, just couldn’t be in attendance. They had full intentions of being in attendance, but just couldn’t make it. We hope that next year it’s different and they can be in attendance. The few areas that I think there probably was a little space, we had intentions of having it filled, but the replacements couldn’t make it either. Still, the square was plenty full on Aug. 5 and there was something for everyone,” advised Jennings.
Also, while it’s gotten a bit easier for her since she first took it over, Jennings said the pre-planning for the event takes place much earlier in the year.
“For the 2026 National Night Out event, we’ll probably start planning in mid-April of next year. Now that we’re nine years into it, thankfully a lot of people already have marked their calendars for next year because it’s on the first Tuesday of every August. I send out an email or call them and they already have it on their calendars and they tell me they will be there. Once someone has participated once, it gets easier. The hardest part is adding the new people, trying to find a spot for them, trying to think if we have enough room, but it all works out,” Jennings said.
In addition to local vendors, area law enforcement agencies and emergency responders were well-represented.
 “We had every first responder in Montgomery County here, and the Emerson Fire Department was here, as well as Villisca EMS. I know the Iowa State Patrol was present. The Viking Lake State Park DNR officials were with us. Even Montgomery County Conservation had a presence that night,” Rhamy commented.
One of the core missions of National Night Out is establish a connection between law enforcement agencies, and the public, particularly youth. On that front, Rhamy said they continue to be successful.
“From the couple hours that we had for the event, we had a large number of kids. I had a few people this year say they felt like there was a lot more kids there this year than there were in previous years. Whether that’s true or not, we will never know, as we don’t take specific attendance. Just getting that type of a social atmosphere where kids are comfortable is important. They’re coming up, they’re asking for stickers, they’re kind of interacting with us because they want a sticker from the officers. It builds that camaraderie between them and the officers, or the first responders who hand out stickers as well, and it builds that overall camaraderie with the kids and the general public,” Rhamy advised.
Rhamy also commented on some of the things he enjoys most of all about hosting the event year after year.
“I really enjoy the socializing that I do, and hearing people talk about how they look forward to this event every year. This is something that we, for two hours out of our night, always look forward to. I also am pleased with the joy that it brings to those that come out and spend the evening with us. It’s not just kids, it’s the adults too. It’s quite an impact statement that we get from seeing all those individuals come out and spend the night with us,” Rhamy said.
One event that was new this year was the canine demonstration with K-9 officers Drew Askey and Connor Jansky, with assistance from former K-9 deputy and now chief deputy Rick Mitchell. Rhamy said the presentation proved quite popular.
“It drew quite a crowd, which is good because canines within law enforcement are a huge resource that we utilize on a very regular basis. We have two of them here within Montgomery County, and we have two great handlers that handle them. I didn’t get over there to see the presentation, but I’ve heard great things about it, and heard that Deputy Askey was a great presenter who gave as much information as possible to, let the public know what was going on throughout the course of the presentation,” commented Rhamy. “The public was shown some of the dogs’ obedience training and saw the dogs perform a mock drug bust on a vehicle. We’ll try to keep that tradition going, we probably should have had it even sooner, but we’re making up for it now.”
And while Lifenet was unable to participate this year, the void was again filled by the presence of Cedar Ridge Aviation, which transported over a helicopter for display.
“We were pleased they wanted to participate last year.  I think they had intentions of probably bringing both helicopters, but I think they only brought one because the second was in use and out spraying. This is the busiest time of the year for them, and last year they were lucky enough to be further ahead so they could bring out both. We most certainly appreciate them taking the time to at least get one down to us, because helicopters are intriguing to people,” stated Rhamy.
Rhamy passed on a special message to those who assisted behind the scenes in helping bring the event to fruition.
“The donors sure help out with the night. We make everything that evening free, but in reality it’s not free. So we have a lot of great donors that donate to it. I won’t be able to name them all, but Red Oak Chrysler put money towards balloon artists. Vial Insurance and John’s Heating and AC out of Stanton donated, as well as Tractor Supply. Fareway always helps us out and brings their Impact trailer. They’ve supported us since day one. Oakland Foods is a gracious donor. They give us 1,000 to 1,200 hot dogs every year to serve during the event. We most certainly need to give them kudos.. Also, kudos to all the participants on the citizen side who came down to see us, or those on the vendor side who gave their handouts or baked the goodies that got given away,” commented Rhamy.
Jennings said if anyone hasn’t participated in National Night Out and wishes to do so in 2026, it’s not too early.
“They can reach out now and just either call the office or shoot me an email. We usually try to keep the map pretty much the same unless something dramatic changes When we can keep the returning vendors in the same spot, it just keeps it easier. But if someone is interested in doing it next year, it’s never too early. Otherwise, I’ll reach out to people starting in April of next year,” advised Jennings.