Photos by Marie Mccolm Monte Vista Police Department Officer Twila Martinez and Irene Arellano pose for photo in front of the MVPD booth on Saturday during the department’s Night Out event at Chapman Park. Children get some archery tips from Colorado Parks and Wildlife during the Night Out event in Monte Vista’s Chapman Park on Aug. 26.

MONTE VISTA — An estimated 500 people attended Monte Vista’s National Night Out on Saturday, Aug. 26, at Chapman Park.

Night Out is a national drug and crime prevention event that takes place in August in cities across the United States. The event is a partnership between law enforcement agencies and residents that allows people to get to know the people in their local law enforcement agencies. The event takes place with the hope that the collaboration will bring about prevention in drug and criminal activity in the community.

This year many emergency personnel attended the event, along with many other safety advocates for the community. There were multiple booths set up at Chapman Park including a military and Army booth, and a face painting booth, along with a bouncy house for the children. The event included a free hamburger or hot dog dinner for all attendees complete with chips and drinks. MVPD Chief George Dingfelder was at the event cooking hamburgers, smiling, and talking with people.  

Officer Twila Martinez organized the event for Monte Vista.

“This is a great community event,” Martinez said. “This is an annual event that we like to put on. We try to engage with the community to answer any questions that the community might have. We provide dinner and there are other booths set up, the Monte Vista Ambulance, and the Monte Vista Fire Department are here. We try to have a fun-filled night and engage with the community to build that trust and relationship with our community. We want them to know they are safe, and they can come to us when they need us. What we really want from people is for them to trust us and get to know us. We are here for our community, and we want them to know that.”

Martinez enjoys meeting people in the Night Out’s casual setting.

“My favorite part of this is meeting everyone and seeing everyone together in the community. This is my first time organizing this event. It was a lot of hard work, engaging with other agencies and bringing everything together. I am glad that it has gone so well, and we have had such a good turn out,” she said.

Monte Vista Coordinator for the San Luis Valley Victim Response Unit Angela Jaramillo was at the event with a few victims' advocates and spoke about what they do to help people.

“We promote victims services. We help people who are victims of crimes,” Jaramillo said. “We service all communities. We are giving out flyers and information on all our different services. We help victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, victims of trauma. We also have fingerprint information on how to get your kids fingerprinted here. We have games for the kids here at our booth. We really want to help people learn about awareness and teach people how to look out for themselves. We want people to feel safe and we are here for people to help them and get them through any trauma that they may be experiencing.”

Rio Grande County Sherriff Anne Robinson was at the event and said, “I think this is great. It’s a great opportunity for our community to come out and meet our law enforcement and EMS and realize that we are here for them. I think that they need to realize that we are people as well and we are approachable, and this is a good opportunity for that. I have talked to a lot of people tonight new and old friends and its awesome to see everybody out here tonight.”

Chief George Dingfelder added, “I served about 180 hamburgers tonight. The weather cooperated tonight. Officer Twila Martinez put this together for us tonight and did a phenomenal job. We love our community, and we are so happy to see so many people out here tonight.”

Community member Margo Alexander said, “I think this is absolutely fantastic that our town does this every year. Everybody is so friendly. We live in a great community.”

Monte Vista City Manager Gigi Dennis said, “I think this is a wonderful opportunity for our people to engage with our law enforcement and see that they are wonderful people first. To see their compassion and dedication in wanting to keep our community safe. They are here to help. It’s been a great turn out slow and steady. I appreciate our other partners that have showed up here tonight, too. These are solid people who care about our community.”