Cheyenne, Wyoming is the biggest small town in the world, and our chief of police is doing his best to keep it that way! He instigated our latest summer event, the Neighborhood Night Out, and the first one, held Tuesday night, was a huge success.

The Neighborhood Night Out is basically a city-wide block party, where neighbors get together, local businesses chip in food and drink, and our police officers stop by and get to know the people they serve and protect. Our party got started with a red-white-and-blue children’s parade, led by my friend Terry Barbre on bagpipes!

You can bet the first drone of the pipes got the attention of every neighbor who wasn’t already watching! Terry lit into a rousing version of Yankee Doodle and God Bless America while the kids rode their decorated bikes, wagons, and motorized Jeep-ettes through the streets.

Sean Allen of Scotty’s provided all the pizza we could eat, and organizer Jessica Speer enlisted neighbors and friends to make sure

Later, we had music by the Todd Dereemer Band. Todd is a Wyoming-born singer songwriter who recently took a trip to New York to record a new CD. You can listen to some of his music at http://www.todddereemer.com/ .

The evening closed with music by the Belle Diablos. The kids danced, the grownups chatted, and altogether it was a great reminder of why I love this town.

Thanks to everyone who played, sang, organized, cooked, cleaned, and attended!