Filling Jim Thorpe Memorial Park on a Tuesday night is no easy task.

It's that accomplishment that makes Jim Thorpe's National Night Out celebration one of the top community events in Carbon County, according to borough Mayor Mike Sofranko.Organizers estimate around 1,500 people gathered to learn more about various nonprofit organizations, community groups and other vendors, while children had a chance to tour firetrucks, ambulances and sit inside a medical transport helicopter."To have such a successful event out here where it runs for four hours and everyone is sober and having a great time, that is a great tribute to the community," Sofranko said. "This was originally started to show support for the Jim Thorpe Police Department and the emergency services groups in town. Cindy Henning does a great job organizing it each year and the planning will start again right after this one ends."Nearly 50 vendors participated in Tuesday's event, which Henning said provides information concerning the negative issues affecting the community and connects the community with available services.Mauch Chunk Pharmacy's "Project Purple" team provided one of the culinary delights of the evening, the walking taco."It has meat, cheese, lettuce and salsa all stuffed into a bag of Doritos," said Kira Maehrer.First-time National Night Out attendees Cliff and Eileen McFarland, of Jim Thorpe, said they heard it was an "interesting community event" and decided to check it out. The two spent some time talking with Tom Newman, Community Emergency Response Team coordinator.Amanda Bray, of neighboring Nesquehoning, said she brought her daughter over to play with some friends in the park and decided to check out a few of the stands."There's a lot of good information out here and I think the more outreach we can do as a society, the better off we'll be," she said. "People who need help may not always seek help, but if organizations get out and make themselves available like this, that person might pick up a pamphlet or strike up a conversation."Helicopters from the PennSTAR critical care flight program and Lehigh Valley Medevac were on the scene and children toured the choppers throughout the evening."Normally when you see these helicopters take off and land, it's a bad situation, so I think it's great for kids to tour them and see them in a positive light," Sofranko said.National Night Out, "America's Night Out Against Crime," began nationally in 1984 as an effort to promote involvement in crime prevention activities, police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie and send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.Jim Thorpe first participated in 2012.More than 38 million people in about 16,000 communities in all 50 states, U.S. territories, Canadian communities and military bases worldwide were expected to participate in 2015.