ROCKWELL – “Trying to spread community.”
That is what Rockwell Police Chief Cody Trexler said as the local police department was sharing free food and small gifts for children at the 2026 National Night Out on Oct. 6 in Rockwell.
Detective Fred West noted that the event always has a great turn out, adding that “of course we couldn’t do this without local businesses pitching in.”
Trexler shared that Food Lion donated the hot dogs and buns for them and Rockwell Cafe donated the chili and slaw that they were giving out during the event.
West said they hoped the children had a good time, noting the touch a truck event taking place and some police equipment was also out for people to see.
The event also included food trucks including Tom’s Coffee, Kona Ice, Los Jalapeños, What-A-Burger #13 and Carolina Craft Barbeque or other vendors including multiple selling a variety of crafts, jewelry, 3-D printed items, Nazareth Child and Family Connection and a Scouting America Troop 4324, which was selling goodies and sharing information about the troop. One of the leaders noted they had grown since January from six members to 15.
Alderman Dillon Brewer said that he organizes the town events, noting he is like the “unofficial events coordinator.”
Brewer was in charge of organizing the Rock the Park event, which was to have been held in September; however, due to the forecast of bad weather the event was canceled.
Therefore, he said, he offered the vendors “free spots at National Night Out to come out and set up.”
He estimated that almost 10 vendors took them up on the offer to be a part of the National Night Out event.
Heather Haaland, development manager with Nazareth Child and Family Connection, expressed thanks to Dillon for allowing them to participate and being a part of the event.
“No food trucks or vendors paid for anything,” said Brewer, but noted they paid the bands to come out. “As far as vendor spots, they didn’t have any overhead to come out and sell their products and try to make up for Rock the Park being canceled,” he said.
He did note that when they have Rock the Park they actually don’t take the money in, but when there is a vendor fee, it gets set aside and ends up being donated to the East Rowan YMCA or one of the East Rowan High Schools for their athletic programs or clubs.
Any vendor money they do collect, he said, is “like a security deposit to know that they’re coming and then we turn around and just donate it” and it’s not used to offset event costs.
Rockwell Mayor Chuck Bowman shared how the event was organized by the police and the town, and Brewer, who he said, lines up many of the bands, adding that Brewer is “the one that was working on Rock the Park and the police chief asked him to help,” and he knew some of the vendors already.”
He said Public Works was also there as they help with much of the setup.
Bowman said there was a good crowd at National Night Out, noting that he thought there were more people than in the past because the weather was so good.
In addition to the vendors and food trucks, music was a part of the evening as two bands, the Liam Pendergrass Trio and Landon Cline Band performed.
Brewer said the crowds continued to come until approximately 8:30 or 8:45 p.m., and the last band remained on stage until about 9:15 p.m., and there were people listening until the end.
He said they get worried when the event is during the week and there’s school the next day that people will have to leave; however, he said, “I was pleasantly surprised how many people were still there that late.”
Bowman likewise expressed his appreciation to everyone that came and said “I think everybody had a good time” noting the busy food trucks and vendors.
“I was glad we had it and looking forward to having another event in the future hopefully,” he said.
Brewer said this was their third year having the event and second year with the big bands and were impressed with the turnout, adding that “obviously it’s a big deal to honor our first responders in the community and thank them for their service. So we’re very pleased.”
While Rockwell’s National Night Out didn’t originally begin as a concert series, Brewer said it has grown into one and has been successful.
He said they have a vision of doing a downtown street summer concert series once a month on a Saturday, which they anticipate would draw an even bigger crowd because it would be a weekend and it would be summertime when more people would be available.
The biggest hurdle, he said, would be getting a stage that the town owns and they could have the concerts on a regular basis, adding that they were grateful to Cleveland for allowing them to borrow a stage and pulled off these events.
