It's a Fine Day for a Fair

In thinking about how to balance the programs we offer, the class was asked to share an example of how they changed a program, grew it or adapted it to create a better balance. This is one in a series of posts in which class participants responded to the prompt: Share an example of a way you evolved a program that led to a more successful outcome.

Luci started out with a child safety fair featuring vehicles and each year after it....grew!

As part of our SLP, we started having a child safety fair in 2010. It was held for 75 minutes one afternoon in the beginning of August.  We had a fire engine,  ambulance, police car, and hospital representatives first year. We added a school bus and free bottled water the second year.

I don't remember what we all changed the third year but we invited the humane society to join us. For the fourth year (2013), our safety fair evolved into a 2-hour evening event. I added wellness to the theme and invited organizations like the YMCA, Headstart, Birth to Three, the county health department,  the county sheriff's department,  a school crossing guard, Geoffrey the Giraffe from Toys 'R Us, and more. 

We also had a "bandage brigade" where we accepted boxes of band-aids with designs for children at the library throughout June and July with the idea that if not every child, at least every family attending the safety fair would receive a box of band-aids. I believe we had about 140 boxes donated, many by our SLP families. We had wonderful donated door prizes like bicycle helmets,  first aid kits, and car booster seats! 

While we would have between 60 and 75 people attending our afternoon fairs, we estimated that there were approximately 300 in attendance at last year's safety fair. We look forward to having another successful safety fair this August with some additions,  such as more on bicycle safety along with ATV and motorcycle safety and a simple hot dog supper which would serve as a fundraiser for the library.  

This might not be a program that a library in a larger community would offer its residents but in a small community like ours, this was a significant event enjoyed and appreciated by many people.  Oh, I should say, except for staffing,  the only cost was $6.95 for the purchase of Mr. Yuk stickers. Our library system designs and prints up to 100 copies of posters and fliers free of charge to the local library and everything else was donated.