Warwick sets National Night Out for August 4 at Veterans Memorial Park

Warwick will host its annual National Night Out celebration at Veterans Memorial Park on Tuesday, Aug. 4, giving families a free evening of games, face painting and a close look at the police, public works and community groups that shape life in town. The event will run from 5 to 8 p.m., and organizers are framing it as both a neighborhood gathering and a crime-prevention effort.

The Warwick Police Department and the Warwick Valley Prevention Coalition are putting the night together. Along with music by the Black Dirt Bandits, the park will feature a Touch-A-Truck area, emergency vehicles, DPW equipment, farm trucks and racecars. Food trucks will be on site, and police officers are expected to grill hot dogs, a detail that has helped give past Warwick events a more casual, block-party feel than a standard safety fair.

National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie. The program began in August 1984, and the U.S. Department of Justice describes it as a community-police partnership effort built around crime-prevention awareness through block parties, cookouts, parades, youth events and seminars.

For Warwick, the event has become a recurring summer fixture at Veterans Memorial Park, where local coverage reported more than 2,000 attendees in 2023, when the town marked the 40th annual National Night Out. Another report said a prior year drew more than 1,000 people to the same park, and past events have included about 30 state and local agencies and organizations.

Police Chief John Rader said the department looks forward to a fun evening and to continuing to strengthen community relationships. Kristine Wilson, director of the Warwick Valley Prevention Coalition, said the event is meant to build positive connections in a safe, substance-free setting that reinforces trust and prevention efforts.

The setup gives Orange County families a chance to meet officers, firefighters, prevention workers and other local agencies outside the pressure of an emergency call or a meeting room. In Warwick, where youth programming, public safety and town identity often overlap, National Night Out has settled into a format that combines information, access and a summer evening in the park.