Firefighters, families, fun and food were the four basics for the 9th-annual Family Fair and National Fire Safety Prevention Week community activity held Monday evening, October 5, at the Mountain Lake Fire Station. The event, hosted and sponsored by the Mountain Lake Fire Department and Mountain Lake Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) – in partnership with the Southwest Initiative Foundation (SWIF) – was for families with children up to 10 years of age. The Family Fair is held each year in conjunction with National Fire Safety Prevention Week.
Families visiting the fire station were able to get an up-close look at the fire-fighting equipment and individual firefighter gear, as well as visit booths representing community and county agencies to gather information and participate in a variety of activities and crafts. Booth vendors included Sanford health-Mountain Lake, Mountain Lake ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education), Mountain Lake ECI (Early Childhood Initiative), Head Start, Cottonwood/Jackson County Public Health and Cottonwood County 4-H. In addition, each child attending received a free book courtesy of ECI, made a firefighter/fire hall sticker art project sponsored by ECFE, along with completing other games and activities presented by the participating vendors. Door prizes were also presented.
A free supper of hot dog, chips, raw veggies, cookie and beverage was served courtesy of Good Samaritan Society of Mountain Lake.
A total 237 folks took part in the Family Fair, including 100 adults and 137 children (excluding firefighters, booth vendors and event volunteers).
Below is a Family Fair photo gallery:
EMILY ADRIAN AND daughter, Claire, register at the Family Fair.
REGISTERED CHILDREN AGES 10 and under were able to select a free book from a variety of titles, courtesy of the Early Childhood Initiative (ECI). Taryn Marcy selected as her new read, “Flower Fairies of the Autumn.”
MEANWHILE, COLTON OVERWAG’S book of choice was “Fly High, Fly Low.”
PARENTS AND THEIR children go through the serving line filling their plates with raw carrots, hot dogs, chips, cookie and beverage. The meal was courtesy of the Good Samaritan Society of Mountain Lake. Assisting in the serving at left are Reva Hulzebos of the Good Samaritan, back and Mountain Lake firefighter Steve Peters, front.
MOUNTAIN LAKE FIREFIGHTER Pat Oja, left, fills orange drinks for the thirsty. Behind, catch a glimpse of some of the firefighters’ gear, lined up in a neat and easily-accessible row of numbered cubbies.
JOSEPH TORRES IS all smiles as he enjoys the meal before taking off to check out the fire department’s fleet of vehicles.
LUKE EWALD, FRONT left and Erin Haberman, center back, of Cottonwood/Jackson County Public Health, were on hand to teach the young fair-goes about the importance of staying tobacco-free. Above, Ewald spends time visiting with Kaili Srixomphou, right front and Aayla Radtke, behind.
MOUNTAIN LAKE FIREFIGHTER Jason Sumner found a niche allowed for him to show one of his many varied skills – as that of official popcorn popper.
MICAH FAST TOSSES a bean bag into jack o’lantern bowls to earn a prize, an activity sponsored by Cottonwood County 4-H.
KENDRICK KHEMPHOMMA IS pleased that he caught a fish for a prize at the Sanford Health-Mountain Lake booth.
ONE OF THE varied activities to be completed at the Mountain Lake Early Childhood Education (ECFE) display was the application of a choice of firefighter-themed “tattoos.” Above, Rachel Potter of ECFE, left, applies a firefighter hat on the hand of Nevaeh Moreno, right.
HERE IS A close-up look at that firefighter hat tattoo – this one on the cheek of Riley Hanson.
THE MOUNTAIN LAKE ECFE also had a sticker activity available for the children to complete – placing the firefighters and their equipment in their fire hall. Hali Janzen posts one of her firefighters at the ready to slide down the fire pole in order to quickly get to the fire truck and away to fight a fire.
“NEWEST” MEMBER of the Mountain Lake Fire Department, Lawson Fast, checks out the situation as the driver of this fire truck.
CARSEN HOPPER, LEFT and Danny Reyes, right, found perfect spots on which to sit and watch the Family Fair action – at the back of the Mountain Lake Fire Department’s pumper truck.
