PHOTOS by Jamie Nygaard / CLICK gallery to enlarge and view at your own pace

In years past the Icon has attempted to interview Sergeant Matt Oglesbee of the Bluffton Police Department on National Night Out, probably his busiest night of the year. For 2025, we gave him the following questions as a followup report.

Q. How long have you been organizing this event in Bluffton?

A. This was the 11th year for our local National Night Out event in Bluffton. I had the idea back in 2014 to try to bring this annual nationwide event to the local level. The first year beat our expectations and we realized that the community was behind it. We decided to make it an annual event. The only year that we haven't held the event was in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Q. This event is big in Bluffton, is it big elsewhere?

A. With this being a nationwide event, there are major cities that put on events and small towns like ours that put on events. Some places will break it down to neighborhoods and neighborhood watch events. Other agencies will put on a centralized event like we do here in Bluffton. There is no plan to follow, each agency finds what works for their area and rolls with it.  

Q. What are the most consistent/popular elements of the event?

A. Well, if you've seen the line for the hotdogs, I'd say the free food and drinks are the most popular!  We try to make the whole event something that the community really enjoys and wants to keep coming back for, and we really do gear it toward the children. We haven't changed a whole lot over the years. The pool is open with free admission all day. We have a couple of bounce houses inside the fence of the pool for the smaller kiddos. We have the larger inflatables out in the yard for the older kids, and I always make sure we have several different giveaways that are geared toward the kids. 

Families really enjoy the firetruck rides, and the kids like seeing all of the gear and trucks that the area fire departments bring to the event. Mini-golf and the Johnny Appleseed Park District activities are always a big hit too. With our partnership with the Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce, they provide the fireworks that cap off the night, and that just finishes out a great family friendly event for everyone to enjoy.

Q. This is a "leave your wallet at home" event, right?

A. We couldn't put this event together without the support of the Bluffton and Pandora communities and surrounding area.  We have many businesses and individuals that donate to National Night Out, both monetarily and with in-kind donations. We are able to use the monetary donations to pay for rentals, equipment needed to make the event run, giveaway for the kids and so much more. Up to, and including this year, we have been able to provide everything for the event via donations and no monies from the general fund. The list of donors from the "thank-you" banner is below. This list includes the National Sponsors as well as the local sponsors.  It includes those that have made any type of donation as well as volunteers. It does not include the fireworks sponsors–those are handled by the chamber.

Q. About how many volunteers and organizations support the event?

A. There are many groups that I can count on every year for volunteers. That makes it so nice when it comes to scheduling! I know we'll have a group from Ebenezer Church to man the bounce houses the first part of the night, and then a group from the Presbyterian Church will come in for the second half. The Bluffton Methodist Church is always ready to serve root beer floats. The Bluffton University Football coaches are here every year to help unload the cold drinks and hotdogs from the cooler truck and assist anywhere else that is needed. I can count on Nancy Kindle to help coordinate the food area for the night, and I have several other volunteers that help with certain things consistently every year!  That really makes it easy on us as we put everything together for the night. What used to cause a lot of heartburn now almost runs itself because each group shows up and knows what they're doing. Without the volunteers, we wouldn't be able to pull this off!  

Q. You had great weather during a pretty hot summer, right? How are the odds of good weather?

A. In August, you are almost guaranteed a HOT night!  This time of year, the main thing we worry about is popup thunder storms because of the heat and humidity. The averages are always going to tell you "there's a chance" of rain. It is not normal this time of year to have strong cold fronts come through and wreak havoc. Last year was the only year that we had to move the event back a day because of weather. That would have been one of your "not normal" cold fronts!

Q. What kind of feedback have you gotten?

A.  We always have very positive feedback. As soon as the pool opens in May, the lifeguards have kids asking when National Night Out is.  We have many community members thank us for putting this on each year.

So many parents have voiced their appreciation for our officers taking time to talk to their children during the event and getting to spend time with us in a positive setting. This event gets our officers out with the public in a non-professional setting.  Most law enforcement interactions with the public are in a time of need and at a stressful time in that person's life.  This is a way for us to interact with the public in a relaxed setting and let folks see that we are more than just a uniform and a badge.    

Q. Any stories to tell?

A. This year I got a "speeding ticket" during National Night Out. There was a young boy walking around in a police uniform; he stopped me and told me I was going too fast. He proceeded to get out his "ticket book" and wrote that I was going "88" and then signed it and gave it to me.  I later found out that he "stopped" several of our officers that night for different violations and gave them tickets!

THANK YOU LIST OF DONORS AND SUPPORTERS