By John Gardner
The Surveyor

Larimer County Deputy Kevin Hobson came up with the idea for the inaugural Berthoud Safety Fair after watching local kids skate at the Berthoud Skate Park. The one similarity he noticed of the roughly half dozen kids skating was that none of them were wearing helmets.

“To me, there was a disconnect here between kids realizing that falling in that skate park, even though it’s small, they could still get injured,” Hobson said. “And that’s concerning to me.”

That’s where he devised a plan to spread safety awareness through the community in the first safety fair.

“I wanted to start this project not only to educate kids but parents and families too,” Hobson said.

Berthoud residents are encouraged to attend the inaugural event, scheduled for Saturday, June 20 at Berthoud High School from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., to get safety tips across the board on a wide variety of subjects from proper child car seat installation to properly fitting yourself and their child with a bike helmet.

Several agencies will have equipment on display including Berthoud Fire Protection district, Larimer County Search and Rescue, and Larimer County Sheriff’s Office K-9 team, bomb squad, SWAT, Larimer County Department of Natural Resources, and Thompson Valley Ambulance. Demonstrations by the Sheriff’s Office K-9 team and Air Link Medical Helicopter are schedules as well.

The fair includes food and fun for kids and adults alike with prizes, and a car seat installation checkpoint.

“A lot of times when you hear safety fair, you think it’s only about kids,” he said. “But there will be information there that everybody will benefit from.”

A majority of the presentations will be outside but in the event of bad weather, the presentations will be in the high school’s gym, Hobson said. A lot of the vendors are brining apparatus such as fire trucks and police vehicles. Kids may participate in a bike rodeo obstacle course, have their bicycles checked for safety, and get properly fitted for a bicycle helmet. For children in need of a helmet, some will be available for purchase with a $10 donation to Larimer County Safe Kids.

Another timely topic to be discussed will be from Larimer County Animal Control who’ll discuss the importance of disaster preparedness for animal owners. In light of recent tornado activity, that is an interesting aspect of the fair.

“There will be a lot of information on a wide variety of topics,” Hobson said.

He’s excited for the fair and said that these types of events are the reason he enjoys being a cop.

“I like being a cop, but there is more to it than just arresting criminals,” he said. “These are the things that I like where it’s making a positive impact on the community.”