News

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Those looking for a fun summer community activity will soon have just that thanks to the Liberal Police Department.

Liberal's Night Out will be Saturday, July 12 at Light Park, and the setup time for the vendors will be announced when it gets closer to that date. Everything will take place from 1 to 7 p.m., and starting at 5 p.m., Maddox Ross and his band will perform. Admission to Adventure Bay Water Park will also be free that day for everyone. 

Community Police Coordinator Dalanie Underwood said she and other LPD staffers are getting excited for this year’s event.

“Liberal's Night Out is always one of our favorite events of the year, we absolutely love it. It's such a fun time, and it's a great way for us at the LPD to bring everyone in the community together,” Underwood said. “It's an overall wonderful event, and we're just really excited for everything that will be going on for this year. We've also got some more staff helping out with this year's event, which we're also really excited about because we're happy to introduce all of those new faces to the community. Our Cadets are also going to be out there helping out and walking around, and they're also happy to be helping. It'll be great seeing everyone come together and have a great time.”

With the event still a few weeks away, Underwood said vendors and booth sponsors are being sought.

“We are open to any booth that wants to set up, whether it's from an individual or business/group etc., and anyone interested in having a booth can contact me at the police department at (620) 626-0517 or send me a message through the Liberal Police Department Facebook page, or email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and I'll be happy to help,” Underwood said. “With sign-ups, we do have a form that needs to be filled out, and there's a QR code on our flyer that will send them to that form, or they can also find the form on the City of Liberal Web site through the Liberal Police Department section. We'll welcome vendors who are legitimately selling items and vendors who want to have games and share information about what they do. We're also welcoming food trucks – we've got a couple already signed up, but we'd love to have more. This is one of the biggest community events for Liberal, so the vendors will all see a lot of people, so it's a great chance to help promote your business and/or group. We always have a great variety of booths, and this is a great opportunity for them to get in the public and share their wares or some resources. Signing up and having a booth is completely free, we will not charge anyone who wants to have a booth that day.”

With that in mind, Underwood added it would be better to sign up sooner rather than later.

“We're only slightly less than a month out, which I know might seem a long time away to some people, but it'll be coming way quicker than people expect, for everyone,” Underwood said. “We don't have a limit to the number of booths we can have, and we want as many people out at the park as possible, but we do have a deadline and certain things we have to do to accommodate for different booths, so the sooner vendors/booth sponsors get signed up, the easier it will be for us to fully accommodate everyone and know how to lay everything out. It's not a 'first come, first served' situation in terms of location or anything like that, but it would just make it easier for us to plan the layout and figure out where everyone will go so we can get the park fully ready.”

Liberal’s Night Out is always a fun event to coordinate, Underwood said.

“I love doing this every year. I grew up in Liberal and this is my hometown, so I love being able to find ways to bring the community together and also help the LPD find ways to give back to the community as thanks for its support,” Underwood said. “It's definitely a lot of work, and everyone works really, REALLY hard putting this together every year, but everyone knows the importance of these events and knows the effort is well worth it. It's also great being able to dig into that creative side and brainstorm ideas of tweaks and changes to help keep the event fresh for everyone. We're all really excited, and it's a lot of fun working to put this together.”

Underwood said she hopes for large turnout for this year’s event.

“This is our first summertime Liberal's Night Out in the past few years, and we're really happy about it. We've had to move it around due to various circumstances, including the weather and planning around other summer events, and we're excited to go back to our roots, so to speak, and have this event in the summer again and work with the water park,” Underwood said. “We're hoping the weather will cooperate, and we're expecting a big crowd because school's out and families are looking for things to do on the weekends, and this is a great community event that has something for everyone. We'll have something for everyone – we'll have games, live music, food trucks, vendor booths, and much more. So bring out the whole family and come hang out for a great day in the park.”

Overall, Underwood said, it should be a great day for the community.

“We're really excited about this year's Liberal's Night Out, and I would encourage everyone to keep an eye on our Facebook page and other social media for any updates that come up, because we share a lot of new information on there,” Underwood said. “And if anyone has any other questions, they are more than welcome to get in touch with me, and I'll be happy to help.”