National Night Out is celebrated the first Tuesday of August each year. According to the National Association of Town Watch, NNO is “an annual community-building campaign that promotes police – community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live.” Many community associations host events on that night. Does yours?

Many managers call to ask if their community’s insurance policy will cover special events such as this. The answer is yes, though there may be some exceptions or exclusions.
If planning an event, here are some things your association will want to consider:
• If you hire vendors (such as a food truck) be sure that they are properly insured and have the association named as additional insured for the day of the event.
• If you have community members volunteering for the event, such as BBQ’ing or face painting, use a sign-in sheet so you can keep track of who is “working” for the association.
• Alcohol. Don’t sell it or encourage attendees to bring it. If you want it to be part of your event, contract with a catering company or other provider that has the appropriate licensing and insurance.

If you are planning to host a National Night Out event in your community, register your event at www.natw.org as well as with your city. This lets city leadership know where the events are and you may get fun visits from city officials, fire trucks, or police cars. Kids LOVE it when they get to sit on a fire truck or turn on the sirens of the police car!

Terri Guest, CIRMS, CMCA is the Northern California Sales & Marketing Representative for Berg Insurance Agency and can be reached at Terri@berginsurance.com. Have an insurance question? Ask Terri and your question may be the subject of next month’s edition of Coverage Corner! If your question is picked, you will win a gift card!