VOLGA National Night Out events on Aug. 5 in Brooking and Volga will afford area residents an opportunity to meet their law enforcers, other first responders, take part in fun-filled activities and, at Volgas event, also lend a hand to two individuals battling cancer.
Funds raised in Volga from the bean bag toss for a cause raffle and the free-will donation meal by The Valley Restaurant and Catering will go to the families of Ephraim Katz and Patti Johnson.
Hes a Volga teenager whos going through osteosarcoma right now got diagnosed back in October with that and its since, they found it spread to his lungs, Brookings County Sheriffs Deputy Jeremy Kriese said, describing Katzs battle with aggressive bone cancer. He just finished going through chemo and radiation and is awaiting surgery on both his lungs yet this summer.
Kriese said the other beneficiary is longtime Volga resident Patti Johnson, who is the sister of Bonnie Dudley, the manager at the Valley Mart.
Shes going through stage 4 pancreatic cancer, Kriese explained. It sounds like shes been in the hospital quite a bit, pretty sick with that. She just got accepted, recently, into a (clinical) trial down in Omaha thatll hopefully prolong things a little bit thatll start sometime in August, shes hoping. Shes got kids and grandkids, so just trying to buy a little extra time.
National Night Out in Volga kicks off at 5 p.m. on Kasan Avenue. Were looking to build off of last year a little bit, but I think its going to look pretty similar, BCSO Deputy Dane Larsen said.
Kriese and Larsen said that, in addition to the bean bag toss and free-will donation meal, theres also going to be face painting, music, a petting zoo and a bouncy house for children. The Volga Fire Department will be there as well, along with booths by various agencies, businesses and groups, including the National Guard, South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks, Brookings Behavioral Health & Wellness, The Salvation Army, Sleep in Heavenly Peace, Brookings Area United Way and Margos Place.
We hope to have something for everybody, Kriese said. We have Sanford AirMed scheduled to come in from 5 to 6, so that should be exciting for the kids.
Theres no doubting its popularity: Kriese estimated that 800 to 1,000 people attended last years event, with close to 700 meals being served.
I think its really grown in popularity the last couple years, Kriese said, adding that this is the third year the event has taken place in Volga.
Larsen said that, while this is his first year being involved in planning National Night Out, he went with his family to last years festivities.
I can tell you it was pretty packed last year, he said. It looked like there was a bunch of the community there having fun. A lot of people were there from our office, so I think our office and the community both really support this kind of thing and are really interested in it.
Word just gets out
Meanwhile, over in Brookings, whose National Night Out event runs from 6 to 8 p.m. at Pioneer Park, guests can look forward to free stuff on a first come, first served basis you cant go wrong with that in addition to having a chance to plunge local personalities into a dunk tank.
Each year the word just gets out, Brookings Police Department Officer Scott Roberts said. It just keeps growing and growing. Im hoping this year we have several thousand people that come to it, which I think is really good for a free event.
He estimated last years attendance at 2,000 people. This year, guests will be able to mingle with the BPD, Brookings EMS, Brookings Fire Department, Brookings County States Attorneys Office, South Dakota State University Police Department, South Dakota Highway Patrol, an Avera CareFlight helicopter and more.
You can go through the cars, look at them, play with them, play with the sirens, things like that, Roberts said.
As for the dunk tank, the local celebrities include Jackrabbits wrestling coach Damion Hahn, dentist Nathan Hilbrands, Camelot Intermediate School counselor Megan Madsen and SDSU womens volleyball coach Dan Georgalas.
Roberts noted that dunk tank proceeds will be matched by local businesses, with the totality of the funds going to the Christmas, Kids and Cops program in Brookings, which benefits area children with gifts and food.
Dunking people not your thing? No worries, as there will be plenty of other activities taking place, including a DJ dishing music, free face-painting, balloon building for children and bubbles by B-Town Bubbles, along with free things such as coffee, hotdogs and cookies. There will also be representatives from the Miss Siouxland Scholarship Foundation, which is a local preliminary for Miss South Dakota, which is itself the state foundation that sends a representative to the Miss America Pageant. The reps will be Miss Siouxland Rylin Yerdon, Miss Sioux Falls Kianna Healy and Miss Siouxlands Teen Evian Johnson.
Were trying to make it as free as possible for the public to come back out because they do invest a lot into public safety, Roberts said.
He emphasized that theres no cost for folks going to the event, even to the point where raffle tickets are free at 10 tickets per person.
Well throw them into a bucket, then if youre No. 12 and we pull it out of the bucket, you get whatever prize that were hollering off at that time, Roberts said.
Head on out
In closing, Kriese and Roberts made a final pitch for National Night Out, which has been celebrated across the country since its introduction in August 1984.
We want to give the whole community a chance to come out and meet their first responders, Kriese said. The people that work in their community, whether it be us law enforcement, fire, EMS just get to know each other on a one-one-one fun, have a good time basis. Be a part of the community, bring everybody together for just a good night of fun activities something for everybody, from adults all the way down to the youngest of kids.
Roberts concurred. This is the big one night of the year (where) you can literally go through our cars and have fun and check it all out (and) ask questions.
It should be a pretty fun event. I always like seeing the smiles, he added.
Contact Mondell Keck at [email protected].
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