Housing authority brings together community, first responders for block party

The smiles on the faces of 450 people attending the fourth annual National Night Out block party at the Poplar Bluff Housing Authority office reflected a spectacular evening.

“Every year keeps getting bigger and better. It was definitely a fun evening for everyone,” Tammy Harper, Poplar Bluff Housing Authority office manager, shared of the event that was held Tuesday.

“We were able to give away six bikes this year thanks to First Midwest Bank, and the Bank of Missouri, which we are extremely grateful for, plus numerous door prizes were donated by local businesses,” Harper said. “Other local sponsors were Eastside Pharmacy, Briggs and Stratton, Morse Harwell and Jiles, Today’s Computers and PB Reality.

Numerous community partners such as the Poplar Bluff Library, South Central Missouri Community Action Agency, Boys and Girls Club of the Heartland, Butler County 4-H, Three Rivers College, Southern Care and Comfort, Girl Scouts and Always First In-Home Services helped with the event.

Food, games and activities as well as prizes and a petting zoo helped fill the evening’s events.

“This year we added Cockadoodle Moo petting zoo from Puxico to our event which was sponsored by Peoples Community Bank,” said Harper. “Everyone loved petting and feeding the animals. The petting zoo was definitely a crowd favorite. They brought the sweetest set of twin baby goats to the event and I got to name them, Harper and Henlee. “

Local heroes attending were Poplar Bluff Deputy Police Chief Keith Hefner, as well as Poplar Bluff police officers and detectives T.J. Akers, Dusty Johnson, Scott Pringer and Zach Tubb, Harper said.

Other heroes were Poplar Bluff firefighters Kevin Edgar, Tyler Daggett, Tyler Gutterman, Mike Somers and Eric Mierisch plus Katy Ormsby and Kyle Bahner with Butler County EMS and Butler County Deputy Trevor Head.

The PBPD, PBFD and Butler County EMS all participated in the Dunk Tank.

“The youth enjoyed dunking members of the fire department, police department and Butler County EMS and crawling through the smokehouse,” she said. “Ladder truck 1 aka Big Rhonda was on site, front and center, which received a lot of attention from the kids and adults.”

When housing executive director Darron J. Taylor joined the local group four and a half years ago, Harper said, “He not only brought 40 years of experience and a vast amount of knowledge to the Poplar Housing Authority. He brought fun and exciting ideas for the authority to host and participate in. One of those is National Night Out. This was our fourth year hosting the block party. National Night Out has been celebrated for 40 years.”

Harper credits, the Bread Shed crew with doing an outstanding job cooking and serving hot dogs, plus they gave away fresh whole watermelons. “They continue to be an amazing community partner and help out wherever possible,” she added.