Westport's First National Night Out Draws Hundreds
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
On Tuesday, August 4, 2026 Westport hosted its first National Night Out in the Taylor parking lot alongside Jesup Green in downtown Westport. National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live and Westport this year joined more than a dozen other CT Police Departments, many of which have participated in the past. National Night Out 2026 saw participation from approximately 17,000 communities across all 50 states, U.S. territories, and military bases worldwide. While an exact individual count of separate municipal police departments is not centrally tallied, thousands of local law enforcement agencies join the annual campaign.
Planet Pizza's food truck was there and partner Marc Tomasulo, pictured above, gave out 150 pizzas to hungry attendees. Sunny Deas Ice Cream on Riverside Avenue gave out nearly 400 ice cream treats.
National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign held on the first Tuesday of August that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie. Established in 1984 by Matt Peskin in the western suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, National Night Out is sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch and is celebrated by communities across the United States. What began with neighbors turning on their porch lights and gathering outside their homes has grown into a nationwide event focused on making neighborhoods safer, stronger, and more connected.
Westport's inaugural National Night Out offered an evening of fun, education, and entertainment for the entire family. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet members of the Westport Police Department, Fire Department, and EMS while learning about crime prevention, fire safety, and first aid.
There were great local Westport bands entertaining the guests including Cecilia’s Garden, picture above, and The Splits.
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
One of the big hits of the day was the Dunk-A-Cop booth. Here one of the kids takes careful aim to try to hit the red bull-eye causing the platform to collapse, dropping the Cop into the “pool”.
Going, Going, GONE!
Above, Corporal Bergamo challenges kids to hit the red bulls-eye and give him a good soaking in the Planet Bounce Dunk Tank.
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
After getting a little water logged with the repeated successful attempts by kids eager to “dunk-a-cop”, Corporal Bergamo was given a chance to dry off a bit and it was then Officer Ned Batlin’s turn to make a splash, which he truly did, and more than a few times!
Above, clockwise: Westport PD Chief Dave Farrell opted for a drive demonstration of skill (rank has its privileges as they say) taking on all comers in a foul shot shooting contest. Farrell displayed some real skill, sinking bucks after bucket in the competition with visitors.
Officer Zach Lopez was proudly holding his little girl, Detective Ashley Delvecchio greeted guests, animal Control Officer Joe Saponare joined volunteers from partner organization Westport Animal Shelter Advocates with one of the dogs who are available for adoption.
Patrol Shift Commander Sereneti Dobson, member of the Westport Patrolman's Benevolent Organization was on hand to speak with visitors at the Italian American Police Society booth.
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Westport Freemasons had a table and chatted with Night Out guests. Pictured above are Bruce Duff, Niko Hatsiandrou, Tom Fagan, Rich Soares, Jon Achar, Nick Tarzia, Westport PD Captain Eric Woods.
The event featured activities and demonstrations for all ages, including an Impaired driving course, K-9 demonstrations, Police drone demonstrations, Fire Department smoke trailer, and Crash simulator and a variety of games for the kids.
As with almost any event in Westport, there was at least one gorgeous dog, in this case a striking red and white Malamute, five-year old Rowan who was all to eager to demonstrate his ability to snag a treat and was a big hit getting lots of love from the attendees.
Above, Detective Sean Doyle taking the fingerprints to provide free child identification kits to Moms and Dads to help insure their children’s safety.
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.