Dear Business and Community Partners,

The Bluffton and Pandora Police Departments are once again in the planning stages for holding our 6th annual National Night Out celebration. This year’s event will be held on Tuesday, August 6 and will again take place at the Bluffton Community Swimming Pool from 6 p.m.-9 p.m., where free pool admission will be offered all day. 

The Bluffton, Beaverdam, and Pandora Fire and EMS Departments will also be participating in this event and those communities and surrounding areas are invited to attend. 

The Chamber of Commerce will again cap off the evening with Fireworks at approx. 9:30 p.m.  We have scheduled a rain date for Wednesday, August 7.

There will be food and snacks provided along with giveaways, firetruck displays and rides, face painting, bounce houses, live music, and more.  For more information on National Night Out, please visit www.natw.org. 

For the 2018 event, we had a great turnout, estimated at 2,000-2,500 people in attendance and we served approximately 2,400 hotdogs, 1,200 bags of chips, and 2,500 cans of pop and bottles of water.    

We are planning to host just as many people this year as this event has become a well-received and looked-forward-to event for the community!  We are making plans to be able to serve food, drinks, and snacks for 2,500 people again this year. 

To continue to put this event together for the community, we will again be in need of numerous volunteers and are again seeking monetary and “in-kind” donations.  This event is set up as a “leave your wallet at home” event and we use no taxpayer money to put this on, so without the kind donations from people and organizations like you, this event wouldn’t be possible. 

If you are able to assist again this year, or want to help for the first time, checks can be sent to the Bluffton Police Department and made payable to “Village of Bluffton” with National Night Out on the memo line.  If you would like to make a donation by way of food, drink, or other needed items, please contact Lieutenant Oglesbee at the Bluffton Police Department and he will coordinate with you on that.  Lt. Oglesbee can be reached at 419-358-2961 ext. 110 or email [email protected]. 

If you are able to volunteer, or have a group that will volunteer, please contact Officer Abby Michael at [email protected] or by phone at 419-358-2961 ext. 192.  Volunteers will be split into two shifts again this year with one group helping from 5:15pm-7pm and the next group from 7pm-9:15pm.  Anyone is welcome to stay and help during the whole evening if you wish. 

Please respond by July 6 if you are able to help with any type of donation this year.  This will allow us time to make more contacts if needed. 

The Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce is once again providing fireworks to cap off the night.  If you would like to assist with a donation toward the fireworks show, please contact Paula Scott at the Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce.  She can be reached by email at [email protected], regular mail at P.O. Box 142 Bluffton, OH 45817 or by phone at 419-369-2985.

Thank you so much for your time and we look forward to working with you to make this a wonderful night for everyone to enjoy!

Chief Ryan Burkholder
Lt. Matt Oglesbee