The Village of Corfu hosted its National Night Out -- an event held in communities throughout the U.S. to bring together public safety officers and communities -- along with its weekly Farmers Market. The market is open each Monday evening, as it was yesterday.

Photos by Howard Owens.

Neighborhoods throughout your city are invited to join over 38 million neighbors across 17 thousand communities from all 50 states, U.S. territories, and military bases worldwide.

National Night Out is nationally sponsored by NATW, ADT, Starbucks, Associa, L.E.A.D. and co-sponsored locally by the Corfu Farmers Market.

National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes strong police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live and work. Together, we are making that happen.

From time to time, neighbors throughout your city and across the nation are asked to lock their doors, turn on their front porch lights and spend the evening outside with neighbors and law enforcement.

Along with the traditional outside lights and front porch vigils, most communities celebrate National Night Out by hosting block parties, festivals, parades, cookouts, and other various community events with safety demonstrations, seminars, youth events, visits from emergency personnel, exhibits, and more.

National Project Coordinator, Matt Peskin said, “This is a night for our nation to stand together and promote awareness, safety, and neighborhood unity. National Night Out showcases the vital importance of police-community partnerships and citizen involvement. When law enforcement and the community work closely together, some amazing things can happen.”

Join the Corfu Farmer Markets, Monday, August 7 from 4 p.m. - 7 p.m. for our Community Night Out. For more information please contact Market Manager, Katy Hobbs at corfufarmersmarket@gmail.com or visit www.facebook.com/corfufarmersmarket for more information. For more information, please visit natw.org.

City Church, at its St. Anthony's facility on Liberty Street, was the site Tuesday of the Batavia Police Community Night Out event.

The evening, which includes games, demonstrations, displays, vendors, and food for the whole community, is designed primarily to give community members and local law enforcement to intact in a fun, casual atmosphere. 

For the first time, the annual National Night Out, an event of the Batavia Police Department, was held at City Church's St. Anthony's.

Below: A bonus short video of firefighters hoisting a stokes basket.

The City of Batavia Police Department is proud to announce, in partnership with City Church, National Night Out 2019.

The event is tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. at the St. Anthony's facility at 114 Liberty St..

Liberty Street and Central Avenue in the area of St. Anthony's will be closed starting at 4 p.m.

There will be many displays by first responders, including: the Wyoming County Sheriff's Posse Mounted Patrol; City of Batavia Fire Department; the NY State Park Police, who will demo high-angle rope rescue; and the NY State Police, who will demo the Seat Belt Enforcer.

Car seat installation and safety checks will be provided by the city fire department. There will be a K-9 demonstration and much more.

There will also be face painting, balloon animals, a dunk tank and a live band.

The event is free and City Church will be cooking for those who attend.

Raffles and giveaways will take place throughout the evening.

National Night Out will also serve as a fundraiser to bring back the Police K-9 Program to the City of Batavia Police Department and any donations will go directly for that purpose.

Please come join us for a night of fun and get to know your first responders.

Thanks to the following sponsors for their generous donations to make this event happen:

• Ken Barrett Chevrolet
• Chapin International
• Batavia P.B.A.
• Graham Corp.
• Sheriff's Association
• Target
• Brian Kemp, T-Shirts Etc.
• Batavia Family Dental
• Blondie's Sip-n-Dip
• Human Energies
• CSEA
• Carquest Auto Supply
• WNY Chiefs of Police
• Hillside Children's Center
• Bill's Auto
• Batavia's Original
• Salmon Orthodontics
• City Church
• Southside Deli
• The Radley Family
• O'Lacy's Irish Pub
• The Benedict Family
• Red Osier Landmark Restaurant
• Tompkins Bank of Castile
• T.Y. Lin International
• Kiwanis Club of Batavia
• Artic Refrigeration
• Dunkin' Donuts
• GCASA
• Extended Sound, DJ & Event Rentals
• Toyota of Batavia
• Northside Deli
• Batavia Tailor & Cleaners
• Bohm-Calarco-Smith Funeral Home
• 7-11

Six-year-old Devin Polk learns how to use a fire extinguisher during a kitchen fire demonstration set up by City firefighters at Batavia's annual participation in National Night Out, which is an opportunity for police, fire and city services to come together with community members.

The event was held at Birchwood Village on Dewey Avenue.

There were games, activities, community groups supplying health and safety information, bike registration and pizza and popcorn. Local musicians also performed.

National Night Out will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 2, at the Birchwood Village Apartments in Batavia.

The City of Batavia Police Department along with other police agencies nationwide will take time to celebrate positive community relations with neighbors and citizens during this event.

Locally, it is being coordinated by the city's Youth Bureau, with donations provided by Target, BJ's Wholesale Club, and the Batavia Police Benevolent Association.

Everyone is welcome. The complex is located at Pearl Street and Dewey Avenue in the City.

"The Batavia Police are fortunate to serve a community that strongly supports the mission of safety and well-being of all citizens," says the press release.

The City of Batavia hosted its annual National Night Out community event at Birchwood Village on Tuesday evening.

The City of Batavia has been celebrating NNO for 11 years. Communities from across the nation will be partnering with Police and other government agencies to celebrate their relationship to reduce crime. Several other community agencies will also take part in tonight’s activities in Batavia.

The event will culminate in a walk through Birchwood Village as neighbors turn on porch lights to symbolize bringing light to the darkness of crime.

Get people out of their houses, get neighbors talking with each other, improve the lines of communication between residents and police -- these are some of the goals of National Night Out.

"It’s priceless (when people talk) because without that information you turn into a reactive police department where you’re constantly reacting to crime," Det. Rich Schauf said.

"There are so many things that people don’t realize are thwarted before they become a real social problem in a neighborhood just because a neighbor feels comfortable talking with a police officer on the side. Maybe we might get some information so we can quell something before it grows into something (bigger)."

Each year, the Batavia PD, with the support of other city staff and community volunteers, organize National Night Out events in neighborhood parks that include demonstrations from firefighters and police along with information about crime and substance abuse from community groups.

Last night there were events in Farrall Park, Birchwood Village and Pringle Park.

The Pringle Park event was organized by the neighborhood itself, led by Lisa Barrett and her husband, Kyle.

That kind of sustaining community effort is something Schauff said the police department hopes will grow out of these events.

"We don’t necessarily want to go into a neighborhood and say ‘oh the police are going to come in an organize your neighborhood,' " Schauf said. "We want to show people the police want to assit you and have you come out and talk to your neighbors so that you feel safe and comfortable."

Lisa Barrett, who has been involved in the organizing committee for National Night Out and is a counselor at GCASA, said that's exactly why she and her husband (inset photo) wanted to put together a community event at Pringle Park.

"We just went through the whole bath salts horrific issue and somebody’s got to stand up," Barrett said. "Somebody’s got to bring people out of their houses to get to know each other. If we do that, we’re telling the youth, we care about our neighborhood. If they see we care, they’re going to care in the future."

Schauf said he thinks Batavia is already a pretty special place because with the lines of communications that do exist between police and community, there is a lot less in the way of serious, violent crime in Batavia.

"In Batavia, I can’t think of one area were a person would have to be in fear of (his or her) life to walk through," Schauf said. "We’re looking at cities just down the road on either side of us where you wouldn’t necessarily feel safe walking in a neighborhood. Do you still need to use precautions? Absolutely.

"I tell people, harden your targets, know your area, be aware of what’s going on around you. But I think we have a gem in Batavia where bad things can happen and do happen at times, but we do feel safe because people feel comfortable talking with police and telling us things that we can look into pretty quickly."

Photos: Councilwoman Rose Mary Christian tries on the turn-out gear of a city firefighter and Deputy Brian Thompson demonstrates some of the law enforcement tasks performed by his K-9 "Pharoah."