Tuesday’s National Night Out dished out an incredible amount of food.

 

“It was crazy. The food went really quick,” said Bridgeport Deputy Police Chief Randy Hartley, event coordinator. “Buffalo Wild Wings gave away 2,000 chicken wings before 7:30 and McDonald’s donated 400 cheeseburgers and all of them were gone before 8 p.m.”

 

The Associated Businesses of Bridgeport gave away pizza – 125 of them – and worked with Della’s Deli to distribute free hot dogs – 300 gone before the two-hour event came to a close. Also providing free food and drinks were Hank’s Deli, Wendy’s, Dip and Dots, Coca Cola and Chick-fil-A – that restaurant handing out thousands of nuggets. Kettle corn and snow cones were also popular, the latter operation utilizing between three and four gallons of sugar syrup.

 

In meandering through the crowd during the event, Hartley said he had opportunity to talk to a lot of folks who were quite pleased.

 

“They couldn’t believe how nice things were and that local vendors donated food and that everything was free,” he said. “The second biggest comment was they couldn’t believe all the nice prizes given away.”

 

From a pool of about 1800 tickets distributed, numbers were drawn for prizes including TVs, iPads, Play Station and Xbox game systems, Bridgeport pool passes, movie tickets and all-sports passes to BHS events, among others.

 

The annual National Night Out also featured free music by the 2^nd Street band, free swimming and many local businesses and organizations which provided free kids’ activities and giveaways – from Home Depot wood craft building kits to Bridgeport Police memo pads and mini lights.There was face painting, caricature sketching, on-site balloon animal making and meet and greet with iconic mascots, including Ronald McDonald, Wendy, the Buffalo Wild Wings buffalo, Chick-fil-A cows and the WVU Mountaineer. 

 

Overall, it is estimated that about 2,000 people attended the event – which although featured lots of freebies, actually focused around developing relationships between citizens and Bridgeport Emergency Services personnel.

 

That was also quite successful, Hartley said. Members of Bridgeport Police Department greeted guests and distributed tickets for the prize drawings. Some displayed police motorcycles and let interested children check them out. Members of Bridgeport Fire Department were on hand with one of the unit’s fire trucks. Kids could get an up-close-and-personal look at them, as well.

 

“Another big hit was the canine demonstration, provided by Bridgeport Police and the FBI,” Hartley said. “Drugs were hidden in cans around the tennis court area and they let the dogs loose and they went around and located them.”

 

 “Some dogs indicate they have located drugs by barking and scratching, but ours have been trained to sit and stare. That’s their indicator,” he said.

 

Hartley said he found the large crowd to be very respectful and appreciative of the event, which took much coordination between city departments, businesses, organizations and individuals.

 

“It was a good crowd and I think everyone had a good time,” Hartley said. “We couldn’t do this without our emergency services departments, which work together as a good team – something which is beneficial and an asset to the city. The city’s parks and recreation department, city administration and city council all worked together. We couldn’t have pulled this off without everybody’s help.”

 

Local businesses are already expressing interest to help with next year’s event.

 

“Bridgeport businesses support our emergency services and the citizens of the city. That’s a big thing,” he said. 

 

Editor's Note: Photos by Tyler Maxwell of Ben Queen Photography. See more HERE.