National Night Out has become a fixture in the Tamaqua community and the event coordinators have something extra special planned for this year's night, which will be held on Aug. 4.

Leona Rega, Tamaqua Area Art Center Coordinator, presented the proposal for this year's festival at borough council's Tuesday night meeting."We have asked the community to write a letter, telling us their story," Rega said. "We wanted it all the good, the bad and the ugly; with the intention that these stories would be read and brought to life in a communitywide event." The proposed event will be a walk and drive through the downtown district. Along the proposed route, attendees will have the opportunity to interact with different scenes depicted in the letters, such as block parties and ethnic food.Rega explained how the art center is partnering with Touchstone Theater, a group from Bethlehem, to include dramatic representations of the letters. Additionally, actual letters will be projected onto various media.Rega is hoping that homes and businesses along the proposed route will also participate in the event. The route will start at the Tamaqua Family Practice parking lot, go north along South Railroad street, loop back through West Cottage Avenue, then continue on West Broad Street to St. Jerome's parking lot. It will finish with a walk down Hegarty Avenue and culminate at the Tamaqua Train Station."We noticed there are a lot of people who really, really love Tamaqua, and then there are a lot of people who have things they greatly dislike. How do we get people to meet in the middle?" asked Rega. "The festival will bring these stories to life."Rega said the group is attempting to re-create a range of experiences from those that may be dark and scary, to those that are positive and uplifting.Some events that are remembered fondly, like the carnival that was held in the parking lot at the Family Practice, will actually be re-created by the Kids Karnival that is being hosted by the Salvation Army. Additionally, organizers had hoped to be able to provide firetruck rides, reminiscent of those that local fire companies used to have during their block parties.However, Councilman Brian Connely pointed out that riding in the back of firetrucks is no longer legally allowed. He did suggest contacting the Schuylkill Historical Fire Society to see if an antique open air bus might be a suitable substitute and available for use.According to Rega, as the plans for the festival develop, organizers will be contacting local businesses and other organizations to ask for their participation, including those that have participated in the National Night Out events in previous years. "We will have meetings for public participation. We will need people to do this and to do that," she said. "This is just an overview so we can start planning."