“Night to unite is all about community,” said Blaine Police Chief Brian Podany.
In these polarized times, Night to Unite seems more necessary than ever. In Blaine the event is a chance for firefighters and police officers to bond with neighborhood residents and build bridges.
“Night to unite is a lot of fun,” said Allie Owen of Blaine. “We’ve been doing it here at the North Park for several years. We’ve done different activities, different games. But really it’s just about being together. Meeting new neighbors. I love when I can meet people that live close to me and I didn’t even realize it.”
In this specific part of Blaine there was positive energy and good vibes.
“We’ve got 180 houses in our neighborhood,” Owen said.
“Typically when we see our residents and our customers we’re out there in their time of need,” said SBM Fire Chief Dan Retka. “It’s nice to get out there on a good night, a fun night.”
“For us it’s a great opportunity to get out and talk to people,” said Blaine Police Chief Brian Podany. “So many times in public safety we’re dealing with people during times of tragedy or maybe we have to enforce the law and give someone a ticket. Whatever that may be. This gives us a chance to talk to people. Talk about what’s going on in the city, what’s going on from the public safety standpoint, a development standpoint. All those exciting things that make Blaine special.”
Party city
Night to unite is all about neighborhoods hosting parties in yards, parks and streets. It’s an opportunity to spread goodwill.
“We all have our differences,” Owen said. “But it doesn’t really matter when we all are just neighbors.”
“This year in Blaine we have 109 parties city wide,” Podany said.
For Podany and Retka, Night to Unite is a chance to get feedback from the residents they serve.
“Inherently we always learn what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong,” Retka said. “This is a good opportunity to get out in the public.”
“It gives us a chance to proactively get feedback because that’s what we want,” Padany said. “We want to know what can we do to better serve our community members? This is a great night to do that where everybody’s guard is kind of down and everything’s positive.”
From people to pets – everyone had fun which is something we all need these days.
“Really uplifting for us but hopefully it’s uplifting for people out there in the community as well…” Podany said. “For one day hopefully we can just forget about politics and we can all get along.”
Night to Unite is celebrated annually on the first Tuesday in August.
