LEWISTON – If it’s August, it must be time for the National Night Out.

On Aug. 2 in Lewiston, police will mingle with residents in the yearly effort to improve communication between neighbors and the officers who patrol their blocks.

This year’s event will include the usual array of free food, music, raffles and pony rides while police cars, firetrucks and ambulances are on display.

The purpose of the event is to educate and entertain while inspiring residents to socialize when they normally would not.

“As neighbors meet neighbors, our community benefits not only for the one evening, but the program provides an opportunity to develop new positive relationships that last all year long,” said Lewiston Police Chief William Welch.

The Night Out this year in Lewiston will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. at Marcotte Park. The celebration will be sponsored by the Lewiston Police Athletic League, the Lewiston Police Department and the Lewiston Recreation and Parks Department.

Communities across the country and abroad participate in National Night Out, and the event has grown to involve more than 34 million people from more than 10,000 communities representing all 50 states, U.S. territories, Canadian cities, and military bases worldwide, with this year being the 22nd annual National Night Out.

Highlights of this year’s event include pony rides, arts and crafts, face painting, a moonwalk, music, Volunteers of America Scholastic Books give-away, free child ID kits, a Homeland Security-sponsored checklist to assist in preparing basic home kits, free food and raffles.

National Night Out has historically been successful in heightening crime- and drug-prevention awareness; generating support for and participation in local anti-crime efforts; strengthening neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and sending forth a message that neighborhoods are organized and united.

“National Night Out has proven to be an effective and enjoyable program that promotes neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships,” Welch said.

The national initiative is sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and promotion of organized, law enforcement-affiliated crime- and drug-prevention programs. Members include neighborhood, community, town and block-watch groups; law enforcement agencies; state and regional crime prevention associations; and a variety of businesses, civic groups, and concerned individuals working to make their communities safer places in which to live and work. This year, Target stores is partnering with the National Association of Town Watch as a sponsor for the event.