McCloud held their first National Night Out on August 5th at Hoo Hoo Park

Written in collaboration with Judi Sarti

Recently, McCloud formed  a Neighbor Watch Program headed by a board of directors comprised of residents, lead by Tom Sarti. The local town’s people are working together to help keep their town safer at night with regular patrolling by volunteer citizens. They work in conjunction with Siskiyou County Sheriff Department to help deter crime in their community.

National Night Out was introduced in August of 1984 through a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing the communities interacting with enforcement agencies in which they lived and worked to make a safer environment. It introduced local communities with law enforcement to help work together to fight crime and for the local agencies to get to know and be more involved in the communities. 

National Night Out has grown to more than two million neighborhoods across twenty-three states, each celebrating a get-together on the first Tuesday in  August. 

McCloud’s National Night Out included all first responders as it is in an area prone to fires. Their purpose is to promote a strong first responders-community partnership (including fire prevention, education, and law enforcement) and neighborhood camaraderie to make the town of McCloud more aware and a safer place. This also includes the Shasta-Trinity National Forest Service. National Night Out’s motto is: “Together we can. The best way to build a safer community is to get to know your neighbors and your surroundings” And let’s not forget Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Smokey Bear, and Rye (the local friendly Irish Wolfhound that also helps out the Grinch at Christmas) who walked around interacting with the children (and grownups alike). 

 Judy Sarti says, “McCloud Neighborhood Watch Program’s motto is, ‘We look out for each other.'”

McCloud’s National Night Out last Tuesday, drew over 300 people. Everything was Free! Each attendee received a barbecued dinner and coupons for a free ice cream and shaved ice. The first 50 people received a jar of smarties that read “Smarties Practice Safety – We Look Out for Each Other!” The event was geared towards all members of the family with games, entertainment, including face painting, building a bird feeder, ice cream and snow cone trucks, a bouncy obstacle course and 2-man joust platform, crafts, painting, making masks, dancing and a raffle. There were lots of informative handouts from the Sheriff’s office, Shasta-Trinity National Forest, CHP, First-5 Siskiyou, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, McCloud and Dunsmuir’s Resource Centers, McCloud’s Volunteer Fire Department, the American Legion Chapter 92 Riders, and lots of other McCloud local organizations. Along with the hand-outs, people left with their arms full of crafts they made and prizes they won by spinning the Wheel of Chance.

 Both children and adults had the opportunity to see up close and learn about squad cars, various emergency response vehicles, and learn a wide variety of safety topics from these agencies.

The McCloud Neighborhood Watch parade float that won Judges Choice at the Lumberjack Fiesta Parade was also on display.  

 Sponsors included Grocery Outlet in Weed, American Legion Family, McCloud – Auxiliary and  Post, McCloud Recreation Council, McCloud Chamber of Commerce, McCloud Garden Club, McCloud Community Services District, Wildwoman Sound Mobile DJ Geeia, Traci’s White Mountain Cafe, Siskiyou Brew Works, Mountain River Mountain Music,  Sign By Shari, First 5 Siskiyou, Friends of the Library, Richard Smith General Contractor, Dunsmuir and McCloud Resource Centers, Face Painter Joann Kaufman, CA Dept. of Forestry, McCloud Volunteer Fire Department, Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department, California Highway Patrol, and more than a few anonymous donors from the community.

McCloud community volunteers made the event a huge success by helping with every aspect of the event from set up to manning activities, barbecuing, working  in the merchandise booth and cleaning up. 

For more information about McCloud’s Neighborhood Watch, whether to get involved or to support them, contact Tom Sarti at [email protected]

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