Arts & Entertainment

Not Quite a Washout: Cops and Community Partied in Shore Road Park for Night Out Before the Skies Opened

August 8, 2018 Helen Klein
ebrooklyn media/Photos by Helen Klein
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In Shore Road Park at 79th Street, kids were lining up for the bouncy houses — there for all to enjoy courtesy of the 68th Precinct Community Council and the precinct itself, staging the annual Night Out Against Crime party that Ridgeites old and young have come to expect.

The event takes place, each year, on the first Tuesday in August — August 7, this year — a celebration of cooperation between community residents and the cops who keep them safe, and this year was no exception.

However, Mother Nature, it seemed, had other plans.

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As the sun sank in the sky over the Narrows, adults strolled along enjoying freshly grilled corn on the cob and hotdogs. Some attendees camped out in their beach chairs, with a stellar view of the performance area. Just about everyone you saw had a wedge of juicy watermelon or a cup of ices in hand, shrugging off an earlier shower that had sent everyone running to find shelter beneath the tents that some exhibitors had brought.

But that rain passed quickly, and all was good. Proclamations were awarded and Captain Robert Conwell, the commanding officer of the 68th Precinct, which covers Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, had reminded everyone of the purpose of the event.

“The police need the community and the community needs the police,” he told the crowd. “That’s why we’re here tonight, to celebrate that bond.”

Then, just a few minutes after 7, the skies opened, canceling the performance by Alive ‘N’ Kickin’ and sending exhibitors and attendees alike scrambling to leave.

It was the first time in regular attendees’ memories that rain had put a damper on the annual event, which yet provided a little more than an hour’s worth of fun before the weather intervened.

Sponsors for the event included Century 21, BayRidgeCars.com, the Home Reporter and Brooklyn Spectator, Empire State Bank, Maimonides Medical Center, Santander Select, Northfield Bank, NYU Langone Hospital–Brooklyn, Uncle Louie G, Yemen Cafe, Lifetime Vending and Amusements, Councilmember Justin Brannan, state Sen. Marty Golden, Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis, the Merchants of Third Avenue, the Dyker Heights Civic Association, the NIA Community Services Network, Sandy Irrera and Sharhan Produce.


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