Towns line up National Night Out celebrations

For 32 years, communities have taken part in a national effort to build neighborhoods and promote relations between police and the people they serve.

This year, National Night Out is set for Tuesday, Aug. 4. In some cases, individual neighborhoods will mark the evening with their own celebrations. In other cases, larger public events are planned.

Here's where you can find you can find some of the bigger celebrations:

Midtown Park in Raleigh's North Hills will host an event from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday. The park will be lined with safety vehicles from local law enforcement agencies, including patrol cars from the Raleigh Police Department, a ladder truck and fire truck from the Raleigh Fire Department, and N.C. State Police Department's horse unit. The evening includes free family activities and free food and drinks.

Wake Forest will have a street party from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, at Centennial Plaza, 301 S. Brooks St. The evening includes food, prizes, along with fire, police and EMS displays. The Wake Forest Police Department will provide child identification fingerprint kits.

Morrisville will host an event from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday, at Cedar Fork Community Center, 1050 Town Hall Dr. Activities include visits from McGruff the Crime Dog, Sparky the Fire Dog, police and fire displays, inflatables, a dunking booth and more. ​

Knightdale's is 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday, at the Knightdale Target, 1000 Shoppes and Midway Dr. The evening includes foods, drinks and opportunities to meet with local law enforcement officers. Participants also can try driving a golf cart with "drunk goggles" and dunking a police officer.

To beat the summer heat, Apex celebrates an Apex Night Out in the fall. Cary marks Cary Night Out in the spring.