by John Dowd
For the second year in a row, the National Night Out event, hosted by the Stevensville Police Department, impressed. Last week, Tuesday night between 5 and 8 p.m., community members were able to come out to spend time with first responders. The event was geared mainly towards youth, and called upon First Flight, Stevensville Fire Department, Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office, Ravalli County Search and Rescue and Stevensville Police Department (PD). Each organization hosted some form of presentation or fun activity for kids and their families to enjoy.
Near the end of the night, Stevensville PD gave out over 30 prizes to participating youth through a raffle. These giveaways included games, toys and more. According to Kristin Kruse, the Stevensville PD clerk and the one who organized the event, it went well enough to do it again. She plans on making this event a regular annual thing. “It’s a great new event for this community to enjoy,” said Kruse, and she explained that next year, she will not be doing it alone. One of the sponsors, Far West Mini Storage, who sponsored all the free water and hot dogs at the event, came to Kruse and offered to sponsor the whole event every year.
Kruse says National Night Out went much better this year and drew a significantly larger crowd. She wanted to thank all the departments and agencies that came out for the night out, as well as the Stevensville Town Public Works for helping with the set up. She also thanked the donor of the paint for the mural and palm painting, Project 59870. “The kids really enjoyed that,” added Kruse. Lastly, she extended a thanks to the Ravalli County Sheriff Steve Holton, for sitting in the dunk tank, as well as to the officers and Stevensville Police Chief Mac Sosa for the same. She also wanted to thank the artist, Sonia Couillard, for painting the mural. The mural is set to be finished over the next week, ready for all park goers to enjoy.