Make National Night Out Erie's Night Out

For a semester at the University of Pittsburgh I served an internship at WQED, the PBS member station where I wrote the copy for voice-overs later heard over the air promoting the latest episode of "Agatha Christie's Poirot" among other programs.

There was no streaming or on-demand viewing in 1991. A person watched cable or broadcast TV on schedule, or gambled on the uncertain recording prospects of a VCR, or missed the game, the movie, the show. The voice-over was the last-chance reminder for the public television viewer. I put a lot of thought into alluring "Poirot" alliteration.

More: National Night Out in Erie County is Aug. 2. Here's where you can get in on the fun

I left my apartment one early spring morning for the 25-minute walk under a cloudy sky and arrived to work in a rainstorm I wasn't outfitted to suffer. My cheap loafers fell apart, my socks slurped the runoff, the hem of my slacks grew sodden to the calf. I'd have to endure the soaking for my shift, then walk home in who-knew-what weather.

So I was cheerless when I entered the building at street level and waited on the elevator. It chimed its arrival from the level below, the doors opened and I slopped head-down into the car, nearly colliding with a passenger.

He got a look at me. "Hello," he said, and smiled.

I smiled back at Mister Rogers.

It was a quick elevator ride, and Fred Rogers and his aide exited toward the studio where "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" was produced and I into the cubicle where Belgian detective rhymes were made. I was still wet but no longer sullen, and I carried the one-word greeting like sunshine all day — and on quite a few days since.

It's nonsensical, really, that a man I met for a matter of a few seconds between floors should have a three-decade place in my memory. A brush with celebrity must have something to do with it, but so does timing; at my pouty worst, somebody gave me a lift. It just happened to be Mr. McFeely's and Officer Clemmons' pal.

A door opens soon wide enough for thousands to walk through. Are we neighbors enough to give each other a lift?

More Martin: The Sunday Times-News is changing to put our community's opinions, issues in the spotlight

National Night Out is Tuesday across the country. At least 17 events are scheduled in Erie County, from Lake City to Corry, Erie to Union City, 16 of them funded by the United Way of Erie County. They'll bring together police and firefighters with children, parents, neighbors and new acquaintances over free food, music, games and even more at some locales.

A year ago, National Night Out in Erie County looked like this: Kids wearing mile-wide grins on a kickball field at Wallace Park, where Mayor Joe Schember chatted and munched a hot dog; a petting zoo at Belle Valley Fire Department; a drum circle at Baker's Field, and face-painting at Diehl Elementary School, among just some of the events at just some of the locations.

If the United Way's estimates prove out, nearly 5,900 people will head down the block to a local event including 1,000 at Gridley Park and 850 at Belle Valley. That many guests would fill 60% of the seats at Erie Veterans Memorial Stadium.

But it's only about 2.2% of the population of Erie County.

National Night Out prides itself as "a community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live."

More than 2.2% of us could stand a moment that reminds us we're neighbors, and that we care, and welcomes us to act like it. I suspect neither National Night Out nor the United Way would much mind if we were to co-opt Tuesday for an informal Erie Night Out.

Get up a backyard picnic, or a neighborhood game. Organize a cleanup. Have a walk around the block. Stop for a chat. Say hey to the neighbors who moved in over the past couple years who you haven't met yet. Wave to the police on patrol. Hand-deliver your famous recipe next door. Put an extra chair and a pitcher of lemonade on the porch and invite a conversation. Lend a hand. Check on a neighbor you know might stand a little help. Put a light on. Smile.

We don't need funding, only the will, for a night, to ignore phones and TVs and all those things that come between us.

Not sure where to start?

Try "hello."

It's worked at least once before.

Matt Martin is the executive editor of the Erie Times-News and the USA Today Network's Western Pennsylvania Region. He can be reached at mmartin@timesnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Make Tuesday's National Night Out Erie's Night Out