The Evansville Police Department announced on Tuesday that this year's National Night Out scheduled for August 4th at Wesselman Park will not happen.

The Department made the announcement through a press release as well as their social media accounts citing the increase of COVID-19 cases in the community.

Started in 1984 in Philadelphia, the goal of the annual event, which takes place each year on the first Tuesday of August, is to give community residents and members of local law enforcement the opportunity to come together and build relationships "to make our neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live," according to the National Night Out website. Since its inception, the event takes place in 16,000 communities across the country, 84 of which happen in Indiana, including Evansville.

Evansville is likely not the only community cancelling or at least postponing their event, as the national website encourages communities to push their events to the first Tuesday in October due to the continued spread of COVID-19. Based on the statement released by the EPD, they will not be rescheduling, but simply cancelling this year's event altogether.

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