MOSES LAKE — On a night where all of Washington exercised its right to vote and prevailing winds created from nearby wildfires left a haze in the air that accented a spectacular sunset over central Washington, Moses Lake celebrated a National Night Out in Sinkiuse Square.

The Moses Lake Police Department, in conjunction with the Moses Lake Business Association, threw a heck of a street party in connection with a national campaign for safer streets and a crime-free place to raise a family.

Where it might be a bit of a stretch to imagine safe streets in Compton, N.J., or Stockton, Calif., Tuesday’s National Night Out in Moses Lake was what small-town living is all about. The Moses Lake Fire Department brought out the equipment for the kids to climb on. The Moses Lake Tactical Response Team set up the V150 armored vehicle that was a nice attraction. Deputy Hunter Klewin was quick with the information, but the kids just wanted to poke their head out the top and sit in the driver’s seat.

Six-year-old Helen Rains, who’ll be going to Sage Point Elementary next fall, wiggled her way to a seat on top of the vehicle Klewin called a “big chunk of metal we put between us and the bad guys.” Could have been a jungle gym on wheels for all Rains cared. It was cool. Emma Glencoe, fresh off her performance in the Little Mermaid Jr., had one of those crowd pleasing smiles of hers as she waved to the cameras firing away down below. It was small town at its finest. Kids drew with chalk on the pavement while local police and fire department personnel reinforced to the children who the good guys are. Local band 17 by 90 put out the sounds and vendors provided food and information in the downtown. Parents didn’t take a back seat to the young ones running around. One mom showed her girl how to knock down all the cones in the go-cart display as she circled the track.

“National Night Out is for the citizens and children and it just keeps getting bigger and better every year,” Moses Lake mayor Todd Voth said. “It revitalizes our downtown corridor and gives them a chance to show off what they do. We have all cultures here and something like this brings the community together.”

Frontier Middle School sixth-grader Joelee Green and her friends hit the ice cream stand pretty hard. It doesn’t get any better than ice cream on a summer night with the sunset lighting up the night sky for all to see.

Maybe one of the coolest things was the look on 4-year-old Carolina Sandoval’s face when officer Rudy Valdez said, “push that button,” in the police cruiser she was sitting in. When she did, the siren fired up loud and the red and blues on top went off. Valdez held her up to see the lights and the look of “I did that,” registered on a child’s face. A high five and a photo session with one of Moses Lake’s finest and she was off to the next great thing to do.

“It’s all about people coming together. We all live in this community. We’re all part of this community,” Capt. Dave Sands said. “It gives people a chance for people to come out and interact with police officers and access to the equipment. We’re all committed to making this a safer community. I don’t care if it’s white, black Hispanic, Asian, we are Moses Lake.”

That seemed to be the theme as hundreds walked the streets and gathered in the downtown district on a National Night Out. It could have been any other summer night in small-town America, but one thing’s for sure — “We are Moses Lake.”