photo by: Mike Yoder/Contributed Photo

In this photo from April 2017, kids and a Lawrence police officer are shown at the annual Helmet Fair.

With students from elementary school to college heading back to school soon, the Lawrence community wants to make sure they’re going back safer than ever.

On Saturday, the Lawrence community will join together for a safety fair in South Park. There will be food trucks, activities, bounce houses and entertainment for all ages.

Local organizations, including the Lawrence Police Department, Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center and LMH Health will be offering all things safety.

“We will all come together as a community,” said Sgt. Amy Rhoads, public affairs officer for LPD. “Everyone will be able to engage, interact and have good conversations with each other and the community.”

The event is tailored to touch on all areas of safety. There will be information about bus safety, child safety restraints, gun safety, avoiding internet scams and much more.

“I am most excited to meet with the students and their families and prepare them for the year ahead,” Rhoads said.

Planners have prepared a morning full of fun. The following organizations will be at the event sharing safety information with the community:

• Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center — WRAP Program and Mental Health First Aid

• Be Smart — Gun safety

• Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence — Organization information

• Crime Stoppers — Organization information

• Douglas County Emergency Communication Center — 911 information

• Douglas County Sheriff’s Office — Cell phone safety, with an obstacle course and Cram the Cruiser activity

• Emergency Management — General preparedness, wheel of misfortune and mobile command vehicle

• Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department — Information about immunizations and about the organization’s programs and services; surveys for the Community Health Plan

• KUPD — General information

• KVC — General Information

• LDCFM — Smoke house touch a truck and Cram the Cruiser activity

• LMH Health — Car seat education

• Lawrence Police Department — Crisis Intervention Training, internet safety/scams and Cram the Cruiser activity

• Lawrence Police Foundation — Dunk tank

• Lawrence Public Schools — Bike safety with bike courses

• Lawrence Schools Foundation — Cram the Cruiser activity

• Metropolitan Planning Organization — Bike plan

• Parks and Recreation — Healthy living

• Transit — Bus pass and bus safety

• Willow Domestic Violence Center — Domestic violence information

Entertainment:

• A&B entertainment — Bounce houses

• Easy G and the Blue Notes — Providing music

• Sugarfoot Detour — Providing music

• McGruff the Crime Dog

• Police, Fire and Emergency car tours

Food vendors:

• Torched Goodness

• Hog Wild

• Air Summer Snow

• Grinders

The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in South Park. Everyone in the community is invited to attend, learn and enjoy presentations, good food and fresh air as we celebrate the new school year beginning.

— Jessica Brewer is an intern in the Marketing and Communications Department at LMH Health, which is a major sponsor of the Lawrence Journal-World’s Health section. She can be reached at Jessica.Brewer@lmh.org.

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected from a previous version that incorrectly described the Health Department’s plans for the safety fair.