On April 27, South Florida’s largest Safety Festival will celebrate its tenth anniversary of all things ‘SAFETY’ in St. Lucie County. This year as part of the celebration we will recognize First Responders and some other organizations that have played an integral part in bringing this event to the community.

The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, Port St. Lucie Police Department, St. Lucie County Fire District along with St. Lucie Public Schools, WPBF 25 News and Southern Eagle/Peter W Busch Family Foundation have supported and participated in this important community event every year. Together this group has provided dramatic live demonstrations incredible static displays, a tremendous amount of safety information, interaction with First Responders, School Safety personnel and News Anchors/Reporters who cover St. Lucie County.

“We created this event to showcase what our First Responders do to keep our community safe,” stated founder Douglas Farrell. “At the time other parts of the country were experiencing some very stressful situations and conflicts with law enforcement. Our goal was to make sure those situations didn’t trickle down to our community.”

“This has been an incredible event for all of us,” stated Richard Del Toro, PSL Police Chief. “We have the opportunity to interact with kids and families and show them some of the things we do through our live demonstrations. We are excited for another great Safety Festival.”

Thousands of people have attended the Safety Festival annually. Everyone loves the SWAT, Jaws of Life, K9 and Burn Trailer live demonstrations. Many come specifically to interact with First Responders and to check out their static displays. Helicopters, fire trucks, patrol cars, motorcycles armored personnel carriers and virtually everything you can imagine and then some are on display. It’s a place you can ask questions from people who know about all types of safety – home, water, auto, school, community.

The Safety Festival is held at Clover Park – home of the Mets – in St. Lucie West. Activities begin about 9am and will conclude at 2pm. There is no cost for parking or for attending the event. The community is invited to come out and support our First Responders and the job they do.

In addition to the live demonstrations and static displays, the event also features multiple touch-a-trucks; a free kids zone with bounces houses, face painting and more; vendor booths; many different food trucks; giveaways and plenty of safety information is available to all you attend.

A Fun Run for Education will kick off the event. It is sponsored by the Education Foundation of St. Lucie County and raises money for public school students and teachers. The run is open to the public. For information or to sign up visit efslc.org.

Blood One and the Alzheimer’s Brain Bus will both be onsite and open at 9am along with the booths, food trucks, kids zone and static displays. The live demonstrations will begin at 9:30am.

The mission of the Safety Festival is to showcase the outstanding work being done by our local First Responders and provide important safety information to those who attend.

Educational and safety information is available throughout the day. First Responder personnel are available to answer your questions and provide insight on how they keep our community safe. And you’ll have a chance to meet local News Anchors and reporters from WPBF TV 25 who will also been onsite for photos and to answer your questions.

This great community event would not be possible without the support of our local First Responders and sponsors. Some of this year’s participating organizations include: Port St. Lucie Police Department, St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, St. Lucie County Fire District, St. Lucie Public Schools, St. Lucie County Public Safety, Emergency Management, Environmental Resources, Environmental Protection Division, Safer St. Lucie, Fish and Wildlife Commission, Florida Division of Forestry, Florida Department of Health in St. Lucie County, Martin Health-Cleveland Clinic, City of Port St. Lucie, St. Lucie County, Blood One, the Brain Bus, Southern Eagle Distributing, Peter W. Busch Family Foundation, Seacoast Bank, HCA Florida, Emergency Operations Center, Education Foundation St. Lucie, WPBF TV 25 and more.

For vendor or sponsorship information, please call (772) 337-0049 or visit slcsafetyfest.com. Follow (like us) on Facebook at St. Lucie County Safety Festival or SLC Safety Festival.