Maple Grove will be participating in the 29th annual National Night Out Aug. 7, 2012.

The event starts with a kickoff 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday with at the Maple Grove Community Center. A free lunch grilled by the Maple Grove Police Chief along with Captain of Special Services will be available. Throughout the kickoff, there will be games, activities, squad cars, and information for available for the community to participate in. For $1, attendees can also have the chance to Dunk a Detective, Sink a Sergeant, and Capsize a Captain in a dunk tank with all proceeds being donated to the Special Olympics of Minnesota, according to a recently blog on the Maple Grove city website.

In the evening, representatives from the Maple Grove Police, Fire, City Council, Administration, and Maple Grove Hospital/North Memorial will be out to visit some of the more than 100 neighborhood parties in Maple Grove.

"The event provides a unique opportunity for Maple Grove to join forces with thousands of other communities across the nation in promoting cooperative, police-community crime prevention efforts," Police Chief Dave Jess wrote in a memo to the city council at the May 21 meeting.

National Night Out, according to the memo, is designed to heighten crime and drug prevention awareness, generate support for and participation in local anti-crime programs, strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships and send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

Editor's note: Share how you'll be recognizing National Night out in comments. Don't forget to enter your National Night Out photos in our National Night Out/Nite to Unite Patch Photo Sweepstakes!

Follow us on Twitter | Like us on Facebook | Sign up for our daily newsletter