National Night Out events draw big crowds throughout the suburbs
Officer Edwin Alva was joined by over a thousand friends and neighbors who flooded Spring Street in downtown Elgin on Tuesday in one of eight National Night Out events organized by officers from the Elgin Police Department.
Elgin joined a list of suburbs in celebrating the event, held each year on the first Tuesday in August as an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie.
It was Alva's fifth time organizing a party on the street where he serves as a resident officer in the Resident Officer Program of Elgin. The street is also about two blocks away from where he grew up.
“This is really such a fulfilling experience,” Alva said. “The concept of bringing the community together is something that I’ve always wanted to do, and this was my goal when I accepted the position as a ROPE officer.
“It’s wonderful to be able to do this in the community that I was raised in,” he said.
Alva has been a resident officer for five years. As part of the program, officers live in specific areas of town as part of the city's community policing initiative.
Scores of National Night Out events were held around the suburbs on Tuesday.
In Buffalo Grove, the crowd jammed to the local Pino Farina Band while bubble artist Jason Kullum, originally from Buffalo Grove, had a continuous flock of jumping kids around him.
The longest continuous line for food was for Wild Fork, which is mainly an online meat service. It also has a local location.
Wheaton’s National Night Out featured a SWAT obstacle course, dunk tank, fishing with police and a helicopter landing at Northside Park.
Aurora hosted 27 neighborhood events around the city while Carol Stream featured a live band, children’s games, activities, costumed characters strolling through Town Center, giveaways, food and treats.
The party on North Spring Street in Elgin was organized by Alva and the department, with the help of the nearby Salvation Army, local churches, and various businesses and organizations.
Music filled the air in front of his house as he and local resident Celia Lopez put on a display during the “Cha Cha Slide.”
“This is a perfect display of what Elgin is about, the way the community can come together as one, really coexist and have a good time,” Alva said.
The party also featured a mechanical bull for kids, a dunk tank, face painting, inflatables and food, including hot dogs grilled by police officers, tacos, Pinches Miches and more.