A national night
on the town

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

By definition, Town Watch groups are neighborhood-based organizations, but their National Night Out celebrations don’t have to be.
Fox Chase Town Watch proved its widespread drawing power again on Aug. 7 as thousands of people from inside and outside the neighborhood flocked to the organization’s part-community service exposition and part-block party in the parking lot of Fox Chase Elementary School.
The annual early August event is more than a decade old and has become the biggest in the city, its organizers say — this while National Night Out activities in other neighborhoods wane.
Though dozens of Town Watch groups cover just about every nook of the Northeast, only three others held NNO events on the designated evening.
The Burholme Town Watch had its annual gathering at United Methodist Church of the Redeemer at Cottman and Lawndale avenues, while the Castor Gardens Town Watch moved its event to Wilson Middle School, at Cottman Avenue and Loretto Street, for the first time.
The Burholme, Castor Gardens and Fox Chase groups cover adjacent territories in the northern half of the 2nd Police District. A portion of Fox Chase crosses into the 7th district.
Over in the 15th district, the Kinsey Town Watch had a gathering on the 1800 block Kinsey St., but that was it for the rest of the Northeast.
At their most basic level, the events all are meant as a show of solidarity among neighbors and law enforcement against crime. They also serve as a bonding exercise where people get to socialize with neighbors they otherwise might never meet.
But many communities, even those with active Town Watch groups, don’t bother with National Night Out.
"It does dismay me that they don’t," Steve Phillips, president of Fox Chase Town Watch, said of other Town Watch groups.
"It’s a hard event to plan, but it’s well worth it. The value is people caring about their community."
In Fox Chase’s case, it wasn’t just the locals doing the caring. Folks from all four Northeast police districts, as well as nearby suburban areas like Rockledge, Abington Township and Huntingdon Valley, took advantage of the fun family outing.
More than 50 exhibition tables manned by local businesses, government officials and community organizations lined the schoolyard, along with fire trucks and police vehicles.
Eateries handed out all kinds of free edibles, from spareribs to water ice.
Former Phillies pitcher Mitch Williams showed up to sign autographs and chat about October 1993, while campaigning politicians like Michael Nutter, Al Taubenberger, Seamus McCaffery, Brian O’Neill and Sean McAleer worked the electorate.
Taubenberger, president of Burholme Town Watch, and Nutter are in the midst of the mayoral campaign, while McCaffery, a Pennsylvania Superior Court judge, is on the ballot for Supreme Court. O’Neill and McAleer are vying for incumbent O’Neill’s 10th district City Council seat.
Channel 3 weatherman Bob Kelly spent the whole two-hour event mingling with the crowd and even kept rain from dampening the evening, although most would have preferred a cooler temperature and less humidity.
"It’s great to see so many people come out," Phillips said. "We’ve had a lot of new families come into the community in the last year and we’ve had a few sign up (for Town Watch) tonight."
Fox Chase Town Watch vice president John Duffy spearheaded the organizing committee.
He spent about five months planning the event.
"We actually started around March or April, just sending letters out to our regular sponsors to let them know we’re still going to have it bigger and better," Duffy said.
Sponsors love the public exposure they get with the almost-guaranteed big turnout.
"It’s self-sustaining," Duffy said. "When someone comes and has a good time, they mark it on their calendar and bring two or three people with them next year."
The absence of National Night Out events in other neighborhoods may in part be an unintended consequence of the success of the Fox Chase gathering. That is, other groups may not feel up to the task of putting on such a big extravaganza.
"It is hard. They do a lot of work putting this on," said Police Officer Rich Simon, the community relations officer in the 7th district. "But whatever (other groups) have, we’d definitely support."
"A lot of people aren’t aware that this is going on (in communities) throughout the country. They think it’s just Fox Chase," said 2nd district CRO Mark Mroz.
Phillips, the Town Watch president, recommends that other groups start small and work up to bigger events.
"It takes time to grow over the years," he said. "You ask your people to come, ask your local businesses to get involved and your community organizations to get involved, and they’ll support you." ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com