A National Night Out parade featuring local public safety units on Tuesday afternoon drew big crowds of Villagers to all three town squares.
The parade began at Veterans Memorial Park in Spanish Springs, continued to Lake Sumter Landing and finished at the Brownwood Paddock Square.
The parade procession was led by a Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Motor Unit followed by a Sumter County Sheriff’s Office motor unit, Lake County Sheriff’s Office Antique Unit, The Villages Public Safety Department engine truck, Community Watch, Lady Lake Police Department, Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Leesburg Police Department, Fruitland Park Police Department, Wildwood Police Department, Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Crime Line, AMR Ambulance and the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
Villagers cheered the first responders along the route and at each of the squares.
National Night Out started in 1984 in the western suburbs of Philadelphia. National Night Out was a program launched by a young man named Matt Peskin, as a way for people to take back neighborhoods, by gathering in the streets, one summer night each year. This idea has caught on in cities all across the country.
