The 2014 Bike Safety Rodeo for children 5-14 starts at 8:30 a.m. Friday, June 6, at the Brit Spaugh Park northeast baseball field, and runs until 10:30 a.m.
Participants must be registered by Wednesday, June 4, by calling the Barton County Sheriff’s Office at 620-793-1876.
For more information, call the Barton County Health Department at 620-793-1902.
The Barton County Health Department, Barton County Sheriff’s Office, Great Bend Police Department, and the Barton County Landfill have teamed up once again to provide their annual Bike Safety Rodeo.
The event for children ages 5 to 14 will be on Friday, June 6, at the Brit Spaugh Park northeast baseball field near 22nd and Morton Streets. All children who wish to participate must be registered at the Barton County Sheriff’s Office by their parents by Wednesday, June 4.
The safety rodeo will begin with check-in at 8:30 a.m. on June 6 and conclude with snacks and children being picked up by 10:30 am. Parents should bring their children with their bikes and helmets if they have them. Parents are invited to stay with their children for the bike rodeo.
Following check-in, participants will have safety presentations on safe bike riding and rules of the road, and complete a bike course in the park. “With more children and families riding bikes on roadways, it is extremely important that children be taught the rules of the road and how to ride safely,” said Health Department Health Educator Janel Rose.
Free reconditioned bikes from Ellsworth Correctional Facility and new helmets from the health department will be given only to children who need them. Parents who want to request a bike and/or helmet for their child who does not have one should do so at Registration at the Sheriff’s Office.
A limited number of bikes and helmets of various sizes will be available for youth. Bike helmets will be fitted by health department staff.
The rodeo dates back to 2006 as a helmet give-away. Thanks to the Barton County Landfill’s involvement with the bike restoration program at Ellsworth Correctional Facility the idea grew to include bikes as well.
Inmates at ECF have been rehabilitating donated bikes since 1999. The landfill has been a part of the effort, serving as a drop-off point of battered bikes, since 2001.
Thus far, hundreds of bikes and helmets have been given away. The Landfill and the Sheriff’s Office will both accept old bikes year round for the recycling program at ECF.
For more information contact Barton County Health Department at 620-793-1902, or the Barton County Sheriff’s Office at 620-793-1876.
