WALKER, Mich. — Along one of their city's busiest streets, hundreds of people from Walker gathered on Tuesday night. They were there for a celebration of the National Night Out, which is an effort to build community bonds by getting people together with police officers and other first responders for a night of fun.
The great turnout is a point of pride for the Walker Police Department.
"It really is, because it used to not be that way. We used to have a lot of smaller, separated block parties throughout the city," said Mitch Harkema who serves as the department's community outreach officer.
But then, about a decade ago, everything changed when an electrical company called Feyen Zylstra got involved.
"We moved into what, at the time, was an abandoned school, and the school was really a centerpiece for this community, and we were looking for a way to connect with the community," said Feyen Zylstra's CEO Nate Koetje.
The company started hosting Walker's National Night Out in its parking lot at the corner of Alpine Avenue and Hillside Drive, and over the last 10 years, attendance has grown and grown.
"The community shows up in force. We think consistently doing it over the last decade helps people know what kind of experience they're going to have. It's just a great chance for families to come out, eat some food, hang out with each other and enjoy a great summer night," Koetje said.
Harkema says the department is lucky to have the partnership with Feyen Zylstra.
"Otherwise we would not have a chance to reach this many people in one night. This is probably our biggest community event of the year," he said.
"We take any opportunity that we can to get out and and let the citizens meet their their officers. But we love it. You know, the City of Walker is so supportive of their police department."
Dozens of other communities in West Michigan hosted their National Night Out events on Tuesday as well. Harkema says one of the reasons it's important to meet your first responders is that you'll already be familiar with them should you ever have to call them for an emergency.
"That's really important to us. We want to be welcomed into people's homes. We want to have good relationships with them. We want to know them on a personal level. You know, a lot of people know me as a police officer, but a lot of people in this community know me as just Mitch Harkema as well, and I think that's so important, now more than ever for communities, specifically with their police departments," he said.