At the 21st annual North Royalton Safety Fair, it was hard to tell who was having more fun, the youngsters, their parents or the first responders who were showing off their “tools of the trade.”
Take, for example, North Royalton Police Officer Scott Cerrito. His Safety Fair was spent helping youngsters on-and-off the motorcycle on which he patrols North Royalton Streets. “I’d much rather do this than writing traffic tickets,” said Officer Cerrito with a smile. He helped youngsters put the flashing red and blue lights on, and gave each of them a bag filled with goodies, stickers and pencils.

Another example is Metroparks Ranger Jim Newman. He got to experience the Safety Fair on the back of his faithful companion, Onyx, a 16-year-old horse. Newman is an officer in the Cleveland Metroparks Mounted Unit. “We work hand-in-hand with many Police Departments, including North Royalton. Newman invited youngsters to approach Onyx to pet the horse. “It’s good public relations and good for the kids,” said Newman.

Mike Nary brought his three-year-old son Andrew to the Safety Fair, but it could have been the other way around. “Actually, he wanted to come so he dragged me along,” laughed Mike. “Andrew wanted to come to see the fire trucks.” When father and son stopped by the North Royalton Fire Department’s table, Andrew was given a plastic firefighters’ helmet. When I asked Andrew what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said “a fireman. I like fire trucks.”
North Royalton Fire Chief Robert Chegan Jr. was pleased to see so many residents at the Safety Fair. “These people are our stakeholders. We’re here for them. It’s our opportunity to tell them about any safety-related matters and to show them what we do and what we have. These are their trucks and fire station.”
The Chief says seeing so many youngsters attend the Safety Fair is a good thing for the city’s safety forces.
“A lot of them may not understand the messages. Hopefully the older the kids get, the parents will be able to explain some of these messages. This isn’t the only event when we touch the children. The Safety Fair and Open House is the biggest. We also visit the schools, Safety Town, Home Days and October is Fire Prevention Month when we hit all the schools.”
The “Star” of Safety Fair had to be the fly-in of the University Hospitals MedEvac Helicopter. The landing of the copter was much anticipated. It couldn’t land at last year’s Safety Fair because of bad weather.

“This is the first of three events that we will fly into today. Everybody is really nice when we come to an event like this,” said Dave Conley, who, along with pilot Tom Luczynski, flew the Helicopter to North Royalton. “Maybe we plant a seed with youngsters that this could be a possible career.”
Sitting along the sidewalk, pointing the helicopter to the ground were three-year-old Cameron Fenos and brothers, Nick and Vinny Spina. These three youngsters were among the first in line to jump inside the copter.
Traditionally, the North Royalton Safety Fair and Open House is held to recognize National EMS Week. If you missed this year’s event, you missed a good time, especially for the kids and grandkids. Be sure to make plans to join the North Royalton Safety Fair next year.

 

By JOE JASTRZEMSKI
Contributing Writer