National Night Out brings neighbors together

Rain mostly held off locally for National Night Out events Tuesday. A dozen events in La Crosse brought out neighbors, including at an unusual sort of neighborhood — the Municipal Boat Harbor.

“This is a neighborhood, not a parking lot for boats,” Dennis Smalley said. “So, any chance we get that we can get together, it’s important.”

Smalley represents, what has frequently been considered, the boat harbor neighborhood.

Night Out is generally focused on community and neighborhood engagement, and there was definitely that feel at the boat harbor.

“There’s people that live here together, or at least here on the weekends, maybe,” Smalley said. “We do things together. We’re best friends. We go to each other’s kids’ weddings. We celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. In the wintertime, when we’re not boating, we travel with each other.”

It’s that kind of tight knit group that makes Smalley believe they have a special kind of neighborhood.

“How many people stay in their houses and don’t come out and talk to their neighbors, get together and do stuff?” he asked. “I think you have problems when that doesn’t occur, when you have a lack of communication, when you don’t know your neighbor.”

Some of the Night Out events ended with leftovers. Others were heavily attended. The Village of Holmen Police Department, the La Crosse Sheriff’s Office and La Crescent’s police department also held National Night Out events.