Williston Park residents accompanied by 100 children took an early evening bicycle ride down Broad Street to Kelleher Field to observe the annual Night Out Against Crime in Williston Park on Tuesday night.
The Children’s Parade for a Safer Williston Park was the brainchild of former Village of Williston Park Mayor Doreen Ehrbar, who organized the first village Night Out nine years ago.
“We figured if we get the kids involved, we’d get more people out. And we had a good turnout,” Ehrbar said.
The purpose behind National Night Out since its inception in 1984 has been to inform citizens of police and resident watch neighborhood safety programs.
In the last several years, Ehrbar said residents went through the town putting out luminarios, candles in paper bags, in front of people’s homes.
Nick Mosesso, a problem-oriented police officer of the Nassau County Police 3rd Precinct, rode a bicycle to help escort the cyclists on their ride north on Broad Street, starting off near Hillside Avenue at 7:30 p.m. and turning east on Syracuse Street to Kelleher Field. A vintage Williston Park Fire Department truck led the parade with Williston Park auxiliary police officers Jean Tranchina and Betty Ann Pristupa also escorting the riders.
Children rode assorted bicycles, tricycles and scooters in the free-form line of march.
“It was nice. They picked a good street where there wasn’t a lot of traffic. It got a good turnout. It’s a good thing,” Mosesso said.
One of the original ideas behind the National Night Out, he said, was to take back the streets from crime.
In Williston Park, the event also took on a festive mood as cyclists rode past residents who came out to observe the parade.
“The bike ride gets the kids out of the house,” said Kyle Dugger, who rode with his three children in the parade.
“Riding down the middle of the street was a big selling point,” said village Trustee Michael Uttaro, who was out with his children. “It’s good to get the community together.”
Neighborhood Watch block captain Rosemarie Farrar and other block captains were stationed at the end of the ride at Kelleher Field giving out Italian ices to the bicyclists who participated.
“The expectation is to build awareness for Neighborhood Watch and get more people out,” said Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar.
