When you get right down to it, the primary motivation for most community festivals is money.

It isn’t the only reason Port Orchard stages events like Fathoms o’Fun, the Festival of Lights and Chimes, the Chris Craft Rendezvous, Murder Mystery Weekend and all the others throughout the year, but percentage-wise, bringing free-spending visitors to the city probably outweighs the equally admirable objective of creating wholesome family entertainment for the benefit of locals by a margin of at least 60-40.

And make no mistake, there’s not a thing wrong with that, since commerce is what makes everything else possible in a free-market society like ours.

Even so, it bears noting that Port Orchard’s second annual Night Out celebration, scheduled for 6 to 9 p.m. on Aug. 2 at the Port Orchard Marina and Waterfront Park downtown, has no commercial component whatsoever.

Sponsored by the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, the Port Orchard Police Department and South Kitsap Fire and Rescue, the stated goal of the evening is to:

• heighten crime- and drug-prevention awareness and generate support for, and participation in, local anti-crime efforts;

• strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and,

• send a message to criminals, letting them know neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

By and large, the event is free to the public and it’s hard to imagine visitors from other communities flocking here to attend. Consequently, it doesn’t figure to be a money-maker.

Which doesn’t make Night Out’s organizers any more or less noble than those who spend long hours planning events whose intent is to generate revenue.

It just seems worthwhile somehow to point out that at least once a year local businesses and individuals happily work together to host a celebration that costs real money to stage but whose only profit is measured in public goodwill.