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SALT LAKE CITY — Give a kid a water gun, and you'll surely make his day.
Give about 50 kids water guns, an escort from police officers on motorcycles, 90-degree weather, music and free reign of their neighborhood streets, and you'll have a parade. A "water" parade, that is.
Kids from toddlers to pre-teens arrived at Meadowlark Elementary in Salt Lake City on Tuesday to kick off the "Night Out Against Crime" community rally and squealed with excitement when they selected their free water guns and T-shirts.
For the parents, the event, held by Westpointe and Jordan Meadows neighborhood councils in partnership with the Salt Lake City Police Department, was about connecting with each other and preventing crime within their community.
"As you get to know your neighbors and you start engaging with one another and celebrating with each other, of course it would help lessen the crime. Because who wants to hurt someone that you love and know?" Bobbi Brooks asked.
But for the kids, it was all about the water fun.
"I'm most excited about getting sprayed and spraying other people," said 7-year-old Sarah Brooks, Bobbi Brooks' daughter.
Her sister echoed her opinion.
Emi Lee Brooks, 11, said she was excited about "mostly spraying people in the face. And jumping onto that truck over there and spraying people!"
"I think the water aspect of the parade is definitely the kids' favorite. I mean, how often can you say you walked a parade and had a water fight? So it's definitely a unique twist to something that is a lifelong tradition," the girls' mother explained.
When a group of Salt Lake motor officers arrived for their contribution to the evening, ensuring the parade would make its way safely along its route from the elementary school to Westpointe Park, the kids swarmed them to admire their BMW motorcycles.
"Interaction's good, especially at a young age. We try to keep in touch with them throughout their teen years … always the younger kids just love us, and somewhere there's a separation. We're trying to bridge that gap," said Salt Lake police lead motor officer Shane Whiting.
"The more we can be around them, and them see that we're just normal human beings just like they are, it's the best. Best way to bridge that gap," he added.
As the parade wound its way through the neighborhood streets, upbeat music blared from a truck that led the parade while kids sprayed each other and police with their water toys.
Many neighbors stood outside their homes and smiled, some wielding garden hoses.
After the parade, Paloma Soto, 7, said the best part of the parade was "getting wet." She rode a scooter along the route but had big plans for her free water gun.
"I'm giving mine to my little baby sister when she grows up," she explained.
Email: aimlay@deseretnews.com
