Forecast forces Public Safety Night cancellation

Unfortunately, we have some difficult news regarding Public Safety Night.

After looking closely at the forecast and, most importantly, reaching out to the National Weather Service in Des Moines for their expert guidance, we have made the decision to cancel Public Safety Night this year.

The current forecast calls for:

Let's be honest, if it were just rain, none of us would melt. We're public safety people; we've stood outside in far worse. A little rain wouldn't stop us from getting together and celebrating our community.  Unfortunately, the concern isn't the rain. It's the storms.  The National Weather Service has expressed strong confidence that some severe storms are possible Sunday afternoon, which falls directly during our event. As the group of individuals whose primary responsibility is the safety of our citizens, we simply cannot ignore that risk.

We know how many departments, volunteers, vendors, sponsors, and community partners have invested their time and resources to make Public Safety Night happen. This decision is incredibly disappointing, and it was not made lightly. However, we feel strongly that canceling is the responsible decision. We would never want to put our public safety personnel, families, volunteers, vendors, or community members in a situation where we knew there was a significant potential for severe weather and chose to proceed anyway.

We will not be rescheduling the event this year. As disappointing as that is, we are already looking ahead to next year. One thing we will do differently is build a rain date into the planning from the very beginning so that if Mother Nature decides to interfere again, we'll have a Plan B ready to go.

Most importantly, thank you for understanding why this decision had to be made. We spend our days telling everyone else to make the safe choice. We have to be willing to do the same.  Stay safe this weekend, everyone—and please keep an eye on the weather.