National Night Out is this evening.
For the cities of Manteca and Lathrop, this means a series of block parties being held throughout town from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. as part of Neighborhood Watch.
“Last year, more than 80 Manteca neighborhoods headed outside to show our community that we will not tolerate crime and drugs in our neighborhoods,” according to the city website (www.ci.manteca.ca.us).
Ripon will again have a city-wide event at the Community Center, 334 Fourth St., from 6 to 9 p.m.
“It’ll be a great time with plenty of fun and free activities for people of all ages,” said Police Chief Ed Ormonde at the recent Ripon City Council meeting.
This year’s event will be hosted by the local police department, added Ormonde.
Police and the Ripon Consolidated Fire Department will be at NNO, meeting and greeting the public while showcasing their array of vehicles, making for great photo ops for the youngsters.
Children will also enjoy playing in the bounce house and various inflatables.
Plenty of volunteers are expected to help out, serving free hot dogs, cotton candy and shave ice. In previous years, some 2,000 hot dogs – the meat and buns were made possible via donations – were distributed along with bottled water to those attending NNO.
NNO is an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships – local police and the community, in this case, come together under positive circumstances.
Information and updates on NNO are available by clicking on to Facebook @RiponNationalNightOut.

To contact reporter Vince Rembulat, e-mail vrembulat@mantecabulletin.com.