The block of Yosemite Street Village Tuesday was blocked off and filled with community members and dignitaries celebrating National Night Out.
National Night Out is an annual community-building event that “promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live,” the National Night Out website states.
Miguel Guillen, Board President of Yosemite Street Village, said they have put on their National Night Out event for the past seven years and each year it has continued to grow. He said about 600 people now attend the event.
Guillen said the event celebrates the community comradery and it’s an opportunity to bring the neighborhood together. Additionally, he said it celebrates the community, police enforcement and shows how to be safe around one another.
Bringing the community together
At the event, which was one of 60 locations that participated in Stockton, there were children in school uniforms, parents pushing strollers, and families and friends walking around.
One booth belonged to the Stockton Animal Service who brought out big and small dogs as well as weeks old kittens.
Catrina Palacios’s 5-year-old son peered his face close to a cage that held a litter of dark grey kittens with green-blue eyes. The cats inside the cage were all named after soda drinks–Root Beer, Dr. Pepper and Pepsi. One of them stuck their paw out of the cage while Palacios’s son eagerly petted it.
Palacios said it was her and her families first time attending National Night Out but they came because her son is part of Tibon’s Goju Ryu Fighting Arts Karate-Do. The business is located in the village.
“I love it, it’s a great turnout,” Palacios said.
While some people looked at the animals, others visited the umbrella alley where an artist market was held, others visited the food trucks and food stands, and some stood around listening to the live music.
For the first part of the event the Port City Jazz Orchestra played with one singer doing a jazz cover of “Cry Me A River” by Justin Timberlake.
Some law enforcement officers also walked the streets engaging with the community.
Passing along the street with treats in their hands from one of the local vendors was Amy Billingsly and her young daughter.
Billingsly said she and her family came out to the event because they attend karate studio twice a week. Although it was Billingsly’s first time attending the village event, she said she was no stranger to National Night Out. Her family has been participating for the last decade.
“It just brings the community together and it supports all these small businesses. It’s a lot of entertainment, fun and it’s safe,” she said. “I love the police presence and the community presence in general.”
She said usually the night out events she’s attended were at parks or near community centers. However, she felt that Yosemite Village was different because it brought people into the city and into the local shops to meet the owners.
It takes a village
On one end of the block, vendors sold lemonade, sausage hotdogs, tacos, shaved ice, Mexican treats and Filipino fusion cuisines.
On the opposite end, there were community business booths such as the San Joaquin Regional Transit District and the Haggin Museum.
Most notably was a 32-foot-long multicolored bus from the San Joaquin County Public Library that blocked off one of the street entrances.
Karen Jewell, Literacy Coordinator for the Stockton San Joaquin County Public Library System, said it was their Training Wheels bus that goes out into the community. They take the bus to outreach events, TK classes, preschools, headstart programs and daycare centers, she said.
Inside the bus there are shelves of books and all the way in the back there’s a section where interactive storytelling takes place.
Jewell said the bus was a way to introduce early literacy and a love for books.
“We hope that sparks some interest in wanting to read books as they grow older,” Jewell said. “It’s a creative way to draw people into the library … it’s kind of getting them interested in the library but also making it entertaining for the children and going out into the community for people who don’t have access necessarily to the library.”
During the event Guillen accepted a certificate of recognition for their National Night Out event from Sen. Jerry McNerney.
Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom, D-Tracy, also attended the event. She said she attended to ensure that she was supporting people coming together and wanted to spend time with the community.
Ransom said it “truly” takes a village to build a healthy community.
This article originally appeared on The Record: National Night Out celebrates ‘community comradery’ across Stockton
Reporting by Victoria Franco / The Record
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
