Easton Continues National Night Out Tradtion

Even before there was a National Night Out in Easton, there was Walter Mushlitz's block party.

He held the first one in 1983, in front of his home on the 1200 block of Spring Garden Street.

Mushlitz, a well-known coach and volunteer, died in 2006, but his wife, Ella Mae, has kept up the tradition, which has flowed naturally into the city's annual National Night Out events.

When National Night Out arrived Tuesday, people talked, ate and danced on the street in front of the Mushlitz home. It would have been the couple's 53rd anniversary.

"If I know Walt, he would have been here doing this," Ella Mae said, "and he would have taken me out this weekend for our anniversary."

This year, she said, will be the last year she runs the event. There are plenty of other people to handle things. 

Judging from the number of people assisting her, she seemed to be right.

Elsewhere in the city, National Night Out celebrations ranged from Pat Gibson's annual party on Berwick Street on the South Side to a big get together at the Boys & Girls Club organized by Neston Heights, where there was everything from a DJ to horseback rides.

National Night Out is—as the name implies—a nationwide anti-crime effort to get people more more involved in their neighborhoods. According to the organization's website, it now involves more than 15,000 communities.