The third annual Community Cookout took place in Cullman’s Festhalle Marletplatz Friday afternoon, and members of the Cullman City Police Department were on hand to hand out free hamburgers, hot dogs and other grilled meats to members of the community.

CPD Sergeant Adam Clark, the organizer of the event, said the annual cookout lets the police department get out and spend some time with the people of the community in a friendly environment, Clark said.

“It’s just for the community and police to get together,” he said. “We love this community and we love to serve the people of this community.”

The cookout had a change of venue last year, moving from Nesmith Park to the Festhalle Marketplatz, and the improved facilities combined with a more central location means that more people can join in on the fun, Clark said.

“This is just a much better facility to hold it,” he said.

Cullman Cosmetic and Family Dentistry sponsored the event with the Cullman Police Department for the second straight year, and Dr. Jonathan Echols said

“It’s a way to celebrate the community and the change of season,” he said.

Echols said his practice printed out all of the flyers for the event, got most of the supplies and brought the WDJC Christian radio network to broadcast live from the event.

After the success of the last two years, he said he plans to sponsor the cookout in the future as well.

Clark said the organizers planned for around 500 people at last year’s cookout and ended up running out of food, so this year’s preparation called for enough food for 800-1000 people to make sure everyone could get food.

“We just appreciate everybody coming out and spending time with us,” he said. “We are very grateful to the people that we serve.”