Seven stops, seven neighborhood gatherings, seven times to enjoy connecting.
Escalon’s National Night Out went off well on Tuesday, Aug. 3 as the caravan of first responders and city officials made their way to all corners of the community.
Running from 6 p.m. to about 8:45 p.m., the caravan included several Escalon police cruisers, Escalon Fire Department rigs, Escalon Community Ambulance and the bus carrying Escalon City Council members and city officials.
It was a night of fun for everyone, noted councilman Robert Swift.
“It’s nice that everyone is able to get out again,” Swift said.
“It turned out great,” added City Manager Tammy Alcantor, who said there were some first time participants this year, including Palomino Court and Carolyn Avenue. “It’s nice to have new neighborhoods joining in.”
The caravan this year made stops at Saron Lutheran Church on North Street, headed over to Mission Street and then also made stops on Jonathon, Oakwood, Palomino and Chardonnay courts and the last stop was on Carolyn Avenue.
Each time, the caravan arrived with lights and sirens, stayed to visit with residents at the various potlucks, barbecues and ice cream socials, then loaded back up and went off to the next. Intersections were blocked by police officers to allow the caravan to travel together to each stop.
On Chardonnay, young Antone Ratto, 2, was excited to see all the flashing lights as fire trucks and police cars arrived.
“It’s past his bedtime but he had to see the fire trucks,” said mom Danielle.
The stop on Carolyn saw plenty of youngsters eager to meet the firefighters, police and EMTs, with parents enjoying the opportunity to meet city officials in the informal setting.
“When my son, who is now two, was four months old, we walked around town and saw this,” Leann Castellanos said, explaining that they wanted to get involved last year but Night Out was cancelled. But, she said, when they learned it was happening in 2021 she knew they had to do it.
“We have a lot of little kids on our street,” she said. “We’ll do it again, for sure.”
All in all, participants said it was a very successful event.
“It wasn’t a super hot night so that made it even better,” Alcantor summarized. “It was just nice to be out and around people again.”
