Tonight is the annual Night Out Against Crime, when neighbors across the country gather in block parties to heighten awareness for crime prevention.

View Night Out Against Crime 2011 in Queen Anne in a larger map

There are a number of block parties planned here in Queen Anne. We’ve put together a map of neighborhood gatherings. Let us know in comments below if your block is holding a get together–please be sure to include cross streets. Or you can email us at tips@queenanneview.com, or submit your block party directly to the Night Out Against Crime 2011 in Queen Anne map.

With national Night Out just around the corner, its time to start planning for your own block party, or finding a nearby event to attend. Lower Queen Anne will be celebrating neighborly love at its own Neighborhood Night Out event at Counterbalance Park on Tuesday, August 2, from 5 to 8 p.m.

The Uptown Alliance is hosting the event. They’ll be snacks from nearby eateries, activities, clothing and food drives, and everything else you need to get to know your neighbors on a sunny (hopefully) August evening. From the Uptown Alliance:

This nationwide free event invites neighbors to meet in parks and on closed streets. A popular activity from the 2009 event, free “Bite of Uptown” food samples from local restaurants will be served on the hour.

Non-perishable food donations are requested for Uptown’s local food banks. The free clothing exchange is also returning. Residents bring clean, lightly used clothes and accessories to swap/trade. If you can use it, take it. No one is required to bring something or to take something. Remainders will be donated to local shelters. Board and card games plus storytelling will be available. Information tables from local organizations are included.

If you’d like to volunteer or lead an activity at Queen Anne’s Neighborhood Night Out, or just get more information, please leave a message for the Uptown Alliance at 206-499-2795.

The national Night Out block party extravaganza is set for August 2, and neighborhoods all across the country will participate by blocking off their streets to cars, hauling out the barbecues and getting to know their neighbors a little better. The Seattle Police Department’s Crime Prevention unit is the local sponsor of the event, which is designed to bring neighbors together to help prevent crime.

Register your block party with SPD, and then, on August 2, put up some kind of barricades (those large green recycling bins work pretty well). You can even print off block party invitations or Night Out logos to create your own.

In addition to registering your block, you can also add your event to a city-wide calendar, so everyone can see where their nearest block party is.

SPD is providing updated information on Night Out on a Facebook page. It’s also a good place to ask questions and get answers about the event.

Night Out is always the first Tuesday of August.

More than 1200 blocks across Seattle will be closed to traffic tonight so neighbors can participate in Seattle Night Out, part of the National Night Out Against Crime.

We’ll be celebrating and snapping some pics around the neighborhood (though our block’s party isn’t until this weekend). Please send us photos of your block party so we can publish a roundup later tonight or the next morning.

And our news partners, The Seattle Times, will be compiling stories and pictures from Night Out parties around the region. You can tweet a report and photo (via Twitpic), and use the #nwnightout hashtag so they can see what people are up to.

A week from tomorrow night is Seattle’s annual “Night Out,” a national crime prevention event. The Seattle Police Department will allow you to close your street for no fee on August 3, when block parties will happen across the city:

Seattle has had a long history of supporting Night Out. The program has been growing every year, with over 1,200 neighborhoods participating in 2009. This type of community participation is what makes Seattle a great place to live.

The event is a unique opportunity to bring your neighbors together, welcome new neighbors, talk about crime prevention and Block Watch efforts, and mainly just have a great time with food, music, games – whatever you want. The creativity we’ve seen of what neighborhoods come up with is amazing.

Night Out is a great way to meet your neighbors, share some food and drink, and catch up. We have neighbors who we only see once a year, at our block party. These soirees don’t need to be contained to one block, either. We pass out hundreds of invitations with our neighbors every year for our annual party.

If you’re having a block party on Night Out, we’d love to hear about it so we can take pictures to share the next day on Queen Anne View and with our news partner The Seattle Times.

Feel free to leave a comment here with your street info or send us email at tips@queenanneview.com.

Haven’t signed up yet? Register here.