LA PLATA — Neighborhoods in Charles County that cannot pull off their own National Night Out will have a county-hosted one to join every year.
The Charles County Commissioners on Oct. 27 approved Resolution 2026-16, establishing an annual countywide National Night Out run by the Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism. The event will rotate among the four commissioner districts and be held on county-owned property, open to residents from anywhere in the county. The vote was by voice, with no opposition heard.
National Night Out, held nationally each August, brings residents together with police, firefighters and EMS crews at block parties and community gatherings. In Charles, those events have largely been organized neighborhood by neighborhood, often by homeowners associations. That leaves out communities without an HOA or the money to stage one.
Filling a gap
Commissioner Thomasina O. Coates of District 2, who requested the resolution, said she heard from residents while visiting National Night Out events across the county that many communities wanted to take part but could not. She described the countywide event as an equitable option for neighborhoods without HOAs or resources, and said some associations that alternate years would like to participate every year but cannot afford it.
The resolution does not replace neighborhood events. Coates said communities that already hold their own can keep doing so; the county event is for those that cannot, or that want to join a larger gathering.
Coates said she started the first county-hosted event in her district with Recreation, Parks and Tourism, and that police officers and EMS crews turned out for it. Kelly Beavers, the department’s director, said staff had decided on its own in 2025 to start marking the event each year at a different park so it would eventually reach every district.
Edits before the vote
Commissioner Amanda M. Stewart of District 3 asked whether the plan was one large event and how its location would be chosen, and said the resolution as drafted did not spell that out. Coates said it would be a single county-hosted event, moving to a different district each year until all four had hosted.
Commissioners agreed to approve the resolution with staff edits adding the rotation among districts and specifying a county-owned site rather than only a park. One commissioner noted that a venue such as Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf could qualify as county property in a future year.
Money for the event is the next step. Beavers told commissioners the board’s earlier funding meant the department did not need to request money for 2026, but it will include a request in its next budget submission, due in early December.
The same morning session also brought commissioners a letter of concern about the Southern Maryland Rapid Transit project to the Maryland Department of Transportation. Earlier this week the Chronicle reported that Charles is opening its cannabis-funded community reinvestment program to proposals Nov. 1.
