Bolingbrook Neighbors Unite on National Night Out

On Tuesday, communities throughout the country will mark National Night Out with celebrations.

For one Bolingbrook neighborhood, it will be an especially fun time, as last year’s event, one of the most highly attended in the village, had to be canceled due to a lagging economy.

“This year everybody’s jumping on board again,” said Bolingbrook resident Steve Harold, also president of Oldfield Townhome Owners Association.

It was in 2008 when residents of Oldfield Townhomes, located on Weber Road, began a Neighborhood Watch program in cooperation with the Bolingbrook Police Department and first learned about the National Night Out movement.

Commonly called ‘America’s Night Out Against Crime,’ the annual event was established in 1984 as a community partnership aimed at preventing crime and drug abuse.

“The idea is to turn off the TV and electronics in the house, turn on the outside lights and come out and meet your neighbors,” Harold said. “If you have a neighborhood where there might be a criminal element going on, it’s the community’s way of showing that element that you stand together united as a group taking back your neighborhood.”

During the Oldfield neighborhood’s first National Night Out celebration in 2008, only about 20 of the more than 150 homeowners showed up. But the next year, 160 people attended.

“It really kind of surprised us,” Harold said.

The event has continued to be a popular draw.

“Brian Farry is the crime liaison officer between a lot of the village organizations and neighborhood watch groups and he continues to tell us every year we have the largest group that meets,” Harold said.

The impetus for Oldfield residents to start the Neighborhood Watch program five years ago was due to concerns a house in the area was being used to sell drugs.

“It wasn’t a common thing for our neighborhood,” Harold said. “People were pretty angry. The police were working on an ongoing investigation and a lot of people started to work in conjunction with them and we developed our own neighborhood watch. Later that year there was an arrest and people were evicted from the village and a few ended up going to jail.”

Since then, Harold said things have been pretty quiet.

“It’s been nice in the neighborhood so this year is a little bit more of a celebration,” he said.

Activities for the evening will include a barbecue, activities for kids and a visit from McGruff the Crime Dog and Bolingbrook Police Chief Kevin McCarthy. A group photo is also taken.

Harold is glad his neighborhood is a part of the Neighborhood Watch program.