Hyattsville Night Out Heads West

Braving a few stray rain drops, hundreds descended upon Hamilton Street on Tuesday evening for Hyattsville's National Night Out celebration, being held for the first time in West Hyattsville. 

Participants could get their kids' fingerprints taken, inspect police cars and machinery up close, ride inflatable slides, bounce in a bouncy castle, or take in the music from two local ensembles which performed during the event. 

"I think it went very very well," said Hyattsville Chief of Police Doug Holland. "We kicked off at 5 p.m., and at 5:02 p.m. it started to drizzle, but it went away. I think the turnout, for the first time at this location, was really really great."

The night was capped off with a mass parade which saw participants rally behind police who led a walk through a portion of West Hyattsville to "take back the night". 

"I'm impressed by the turnout, it's much more than we expected," said Alexi Boado, a West Hyattsville resident and neighborhood-level activist who has been one of a core group of residents who organize neighborhood watch activities in the area. "I haven't been to the event previously because it wasn't on this side of the city."

Boado said that it was appropriate, given the generally higher rates of crime seen in West Hyattsville, that National Night Out Against Crime be held on his side of Queens Chapel Road. 

"My expectations are always really low for these sorts of things, but to have something this big, call it whatever you want to call it, on this side, I think is just great," said Boado. "I have no complaints."

Holland agreed, saying that while last night's event was located not too far from Magruder Park, where it was previously held annually, it did allow the police to interact with a community which otherwise might not have made the short trip to eastern Hyattsville to mingle with neighbors and police. 

"It was an opportunity to introduce ourselves and to have people get to know us better," said Holland. 

Council Member Edouard Haba (Ward 4) said that while the event went off without a hitch, in the future, the city could do a better job of communicating with Hamilton Street businesses which would be affected by the closure of the street. 

"The business owners, few of them knew what they were supposed to do, if they were to bring food outside or not," said Haba. "But overall, it was great turnout. Next year, it will be even better."a