Minneapolis Celebrates 33rd 'National Night Out'

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- This year's National Night Out in Minneapolis is on par to be one of the most successful yet.

It is the 33rd year for Minneapolis, and the city has more than 1,500 parties planned for Tuesday night.

Carla Nielson has worked to build National Night Out in Minneapolis for the past 20 years. Her last four years have been spent in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.

"There are many ways to create and celebrate community," Nileson said.

Related: The 33rd Annual Minneapolis National Night Out

Families come out in masses. On this night, no one is a stranger; everyone is a part of a community, striving to make life better for all.

"It's a community love-fest [laughs]!" Nileson said.

For officers, this is an important time; time to re-connect, time to heal the wounds created by tensions between community and police in the wake of officer-involved shootings of black men, and the shooting of officers by American citizens.

"I think it's really important for us to get out, especially now, and to talk to as many people as we can," said Minneapolis Police Deputy Chief Kris Arneson. "We are very open to talking about whatever issues the community wants to talk about."

The focus Tuesday night is in on neighborhood conversations, where police and the people they serve discuss current challenges or issues.

It is a time for fun, food and fellowship. But more importantly, it is a time for police and community members to re-dedicate efforts to improve relations in an effort to combat crime.

"We're in this together," Arneson said. "No one can solve crime by there self. This is really a group effort."

Rich Enderton, who lives in south Minneapolis, says National Night Out is more than one night. He says homeowners on his block try to work together and help each year round.

"You have a group that you can kind of call on from time to time. For example, if we're out of town for an extended period of time we have neighbors that we can call and say, 'We're going to be gone, can you keep an eye on things?' and we do the same thing for our neighbors," Enderton said. "The police department coming by or the fire department coming by, it just helps cement that relationship that yeah, we're all in this together."

Back in 2015, Minneapolis was actually ranked No. 1 among all U.S. cities with a population of more than 250,000 for its participation.