The safety village, located on Route 394, originally began in 1996. Since the opening of the Educational and Storage Facility in Fall, 2010, there have been over 26,000 children who have visited. Classes for fire, bike and traffic safety, as well as first aid and CPR are offered.

As of last year, safety village officials have been going to schools directly and teaching kids on first aid education. Though its reach is largely regional, schools from Meadville, Pa. and Bradford, Pa. also attend safety classes. In addition to the classes offered, the main attraction are the carnival events, on Easter, and Halloween.

Numerous activities and demonstrations were provided to about 2,000 people who attended through the morning and early afternoon.

Jessica Dayton, the Executive Director of the Safety Village, said that the safety village has 26 different organizations who all contribute to help make events like the carnival possible.

A child playing the famous Saw Dust Dig game at the Easter Carnival. Photo by Daryl Simons Jr.

“They helped fund the village. We put the buildings up and these are their buildings. They can come in, they can help us, and be a part of what we do. They all have invested in the village,” Dayton said.

The building sponsors include DFT Communications, Jamestown Credit Unions of NY Credit Union Association, Wal-Mart, Kiwanis Children’s Library, Tim Horton’s, AAA, Clark Patterson Lee, Ontario Specialty Contracting Inc., CSX Transportation, Independent Health, McDonald’s, Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office, E.E. Austin & Son Inc., Jamestown Pediatrics, The Lions Club Memorial Pet Center, Allied Fire protection Systems Inc., American Legion – Herman Kent Post 777, Lake Shore Savings Bank, Chautauqua Opportunities Inc, Zahn & Matson Inc, JCC, and the Westfield/Mayville Rotary Club.

There were about 30 volunteers from the sponsors. The volunteers each provided various activities that the children could play to win prizes, demonstrations that teach children how to overcome potentially life-threatening situations, face painting, the Easter egg hunt, basket raffles, and a parade.

“Everything is hands on, and we know that people learn best when they are doing hands on activities. It’s helps them remember more, especially kids. So we encourage families to take part in classes this summer,” Dayton said.

One of the highlights would be the K9 unit from the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office. Drake, a K9 officer, also was in attendance. Though he could not be petted, children were thoroughly enamored with him. Drake is highly-trained and is specialized in finding drugs and chasing down suspects.

A child participating in one of the many games offered at the Easter Carnival. Photo by Daryl Simons Jr.

Some of the games offered were corn-hole, digging through sand, spin the wheel, basketball, ping-pong toss, duck pond, putt putt golf, and bowling. Local representatives from the Masons were educating attendees and providing Safety IDs through their Masonic Safety ID Program. The IDs are available for people of all ages and assist authorities greatly when searching for missing children.

For more information, visit childrenssafetyvillage.com or call 338-0170.

Children were allowed to drive mock sport vehicles. Photo by Daryl Simons Jr.

A child playing the spin the wheel game at the Easter Carnival. Photo by Daryl Simons Jr.