Becker and Clear Lake community members gathered Tuesday evening for celebrations in neighborhoods across the cities during the annual Night to Unite across the State of Minnesota.
A beautiful, sunny day greeted all who participated.
Becker police and fire personnel — along with elected officials and city staff — spent much of the evening bouncing from one event to another to visit with, share information and generally get to know the residents. Clear Lake held their first-ever Night to Unite event at Goenner Park.
About 40 or so people came out to Clear Lake’s BBQ which featured drawings, touch-a-truck activities and instructional paraphernalia on keeping communities safe and sound. City council members and city staff were on hand including Mayor Tim Goenner, Fire Chief Ron Koren and Bud Stimmler — representing the Clear Lake Legion.
In Becker, city officials and public servants visited Woodbriar Senior Housing, Kolbinger Park as well as gatherings at Monroe Court, Autumn Ridge and 39th Avenue.
Becker Police Chief Brent Baloun gave introductions and passed out information to citizens interested in keeping their neighborhoods safe. The event is geared towards building relationships with neighbors and police.
This event comes at a time when police are front and center in the nation's spotlight for reasons that aren't always positive.
With that in mind, Baloun and his fellow officers and members of the fire department focused much of their attention on building trust with the kids. They arrived in neighborhoods with lights flashing and sirens wailing, and kids got to hop inside and explore fire trucks and cruisers, and the drivers handed out trinkets like bracelets, stickers and pencils.
But that didn’t mean the visits weren’t as exciting for the adults. Many of the adults had loads of questions for officers and city politicians and one at Woodbriar even asked Mayor Lefty Kleis if he was considering running for President of the United States.
“I may have to consider that,” Kleis said tongue-in-cheek.
Night to Unite (National Night Out) is an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make neighborhoods safer and better places to live.
The event has been held annually since 1984 and is sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch in the United States and Canada.
