National Night Out all set for Sunbury

Jul. 29—Law enforcement officers in Sunbury, as well as city officials, are looking forward to enjoying a hot dog or two — and possibly even taking a dip in the pool — with residents during the 2021 National Night Out event scheduled for Aug. 3 at the Sunbury Community Pool.

The Sunbury Police Department will host National Night Out, and for the first time in its history, it will be held on the grounds at the Sunbury Community Pool and Ice Rink.

"This year's National Night Out is going to be one of the biggest the city has held in a long time thanks to City Clerk Jolinn Barner for planning and organizing the event," Councilman Josh Brosious said.

"She (Barner) has so many activities happening we had to move the event up to the swimming pool to have enough room," Brosious. "We have Life Fight, state police horses, a petting zoo, free swimming, Shikellamy football, basketball and track teams having competitions for the kids and even a dunk tank."

Sunbury Police Chief Brad Hare as well as Shikellamy Middle School Assistant Principal Steve Renn will be the individuals people will get the chance to dunk, Brosious said.

"A huge thank needs to go out to all the volunteers, vendors and everyone involved in organizing this event to make it happen."

Brosious, along with City Treasurer Kevin Troup donated bikes, scooters and a hoverboard to be given away.

The event will include hot dogs, chips, soda, water, free swimming, and various other light refreshments, along with arts and crafts and music, Barner said.

Barner and Sunbury Police Officer Terry Ketchum secured the Pennsylvania State Police Mounted Patrol Unit to come to the city.

The full unit consists of 28 gelding horses that are deployed statewide for searches, crowd control, and security.

The horses live on the grounds of the state police training academy in Hershey and Barner said a few of the horses will be arriving in Sunbury for residents to see.

"We are all super excited," Barner said. "I believe in our first responders and this will be a special night for our community especially after not being able to have this last year due to COVID-19."

Barner said the city also has a crew from a Life Flight division that will be landing on the grounds at the ice rink.

Councilman Chris Reis, who owns Chris Reis State Farm Insurance, in Sunbury, also sponsored the Pennsylvania DUI Safety Simulator for the youth and parents to experience and understand the impact of distractions while driving impaired.

The Safety SIMulator is a virtual driving experience that allows students to sit in a real car "cockpit" with working instruments and a three-screen, 120° view, according to Reis.

The Safety SIM creates impaired driving scenarios in which the driver or other vehicles on the road are being operated by someone under the influence. The system operator can take the driver through a selection of hundreds of different driving scenarios.

"We are so excited to be bringing the PA DUI SIM to Sunbury for National Night Out to give everyone a chance to see how it can impact their driving experience," Reis said. "We want them to have some fun with it while learning more about the dangers of driving impaired or without proper experience. This event was a great place to host the SIM because it is all about connecting our local first responders to the community to make us a safer place and one way we can all contribute to that is how and when we drive."

The event begins at 5 p.m. and will run until around 8 p.m., Barner said.