AUBURN — Festival Plaza on Main Street will be the scene for the Auburn Police Department’s Annual National Night Out Against Crime starting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 4. The event is expected to draw hundreds of Auburn residents to Main Street for food, fun, music and time with the department officers.

National Night Out is a unique crime and drug prevention event sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch. While Auburn residents spend Tuesday evening celebrating in Festival Plaza, people in communities across America, including in neighboring Lewiston, will be doing the same thing. Citizens, law enforcement agencies, civic groups, businesses and neighborhood organizations from more than 15,000 communities from all 50 states, Canadian cities and military bases worldwide — more than 37 million people in all — participate each year.

This is the 6th year that the Auburn Police Department has participated. Last year’s event won a national award for excellence.

Department staff and volunteers will serve up hot dogs, popcorn, lemonade and family fun. There will be APD canine, bike, motorcycle, Segway and dive team demonstrations; Auburn Fire and EMS vehicles, the American Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicle and the Androscoggin County HAZMAT/COBRA response vehicle on display.

Other highlights will include face painting, a rock-climbing wall, a bounce house and an inflatable obstacle course. There will be child fingerprinting, DNA & ID kits, and live music by the band Five Face North. Mayor John Jenkins and police Chief Phil Crowell Jr. will address the crowd.

“The Auburn Police Department is committed to serving the citizens of Auburn. We strive to ensure the safety of all who live, work and play here. It takes the entire community to push back the darkness of crime,” Crowell said. “National Night Out is an opportunity for all of us to shine our light into our neighborhoods and to set a goal to leave a lasting legacy.”

A special highlight this year will be a Paul Blart look-alike contest with a prize for the winner (to be chosen by attendees), and the evening will culminate with a screening of the movie “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” in Festival Plaza.

For more information contact the Auburn Police Department at 333-6650.