Games to Go provided fun for kids at the Arbor Park 5th Addition Night to Unite party in 2023.

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

All across the city, Moorhead residents are making plans to meet their neighbors on the friendliest evening of the year, the Night to Unite – Tuesday, Aug. 6. And Leann Wallin says there’s still time for even more to come together.

As of Monday, two weeks before the big day, the Moorhead Police Department’s community policing coordinator had registered 43 gatherings. That’s half of the number that were held in the peak year of 2018, when 87 took place. “Since the COVID pandemic in 2020, participation has been building back slowly but steadily,” she says. Last year, 66 areas hosted events.

Night to Unite is an opportunity not only to meet the folks who live down the street, but also to mingle with city councilors and members of the police and fire departments, who visit the gatherings … often capturing the imagination of the neighborhood youngsters with a glimpse of a patrol car or fire truck and a chance to meet uniformed first responders. “Our goal is to build relationships,” Leann points out.

That’s what inspired Beverly Henning and Trevor Sellden to organize the first Night to Unite event last August on 30th Street South. They invited families living along a five-block stretch. It was a hit. “What we were hearing afterwards was a lot of ‘we have to do this again next year,’” Bev reports.“I already knew my immediate neighbors, but met many friends who were strangers before that night.” 

Bev says her neighborhood had never gathered in previous years. “I was thinking, ‘I’d love it if we did this.’ Then I told myself, ‘If you don’t do it, no one will,’” she reports. “I had no idea how to go about it, so we just flew by the seat of our pants.”

Meeting in Bev’s front yard and Trevor’s driveway, about 30 stopped in over the course of the evening. They ate hot dogs Trevor grilled and sampled Bev’s calico bean hotdish. A visit by a Moorhead fire fighter, who pulled up in a fire truck, was a big hit with the neighborhood children.

The 30th Street hosts received many of the supplies they needed from Leann from the police department. Organizers will once again get the same free gift bag this year, packed in a reusable shopping bag courtesy of Hornbacher’s – 100 paper plates, plastic forks and napkins and two Night to Unite t-shirts. The bag also includes an LED lantern contributed by Magnify Financial that can be used as a door prize.

Night to Unite has been a highlight of local summers for almost 25 years. Launched in the spirit of National Night Out, a tradition that goes back to 1970, the local celebration – part of Minnesota’s largest crime-prevention event of the year – is typically hosted by neighbors in their yards or nearby parks. Some gatherings, like the one on 30th Street, feature grilled hot dogs and hotdish or salad. Others are more elaborate potlucks or feature dessert and bingo. The menu matters not. Instead, the gatherings are an occasion to build relationships among those who live in the area.

Leann points out, “Everyone benefits when neighbors know each other. The connections that are made and strengthened through Night to Unite carry far beyond this evening. Close-knit neighborhoods are safe neighborhoods.”

“Life among strangers can be so cold and detached,” adds Bev, who moved into Moorhead only a few years ago. “It’s nice to build a network of people around you. Since our first Night to United, we’ve gotten together again at backyard bonfires with conversation and s’mores. We had never done that before.

“Knowing your neighbors just makes life easier.”

To register your own event, go to www.cityofmoorhead.com and search for “Night to Unite.” Or call Leann directly at 218-299-5143.