HINTON, W.V. (LOOTPRESS) – In years past, Safety on the Blue, hosted alongside the weeklong West Virginia Water Festival in Hinton, works to provide children with lifesaving water safety tips by giving out life jackets and hosting games, prizes and activities. This year, COVID-19 is making the event look a little different.
Kendra Ratliff, West Virginia Water Festival volunteer and vendor event coordinator, explained what differences people can expect.
Rather than the full Safety on the Water event, on the last day of the festival, July 31, Community For Kids, a resource in the Hinton community, will host a scavenger hunt.
At noon, Ratliff says kids can stop by the information booth and receive a water safety pass that is filled with various pictures that match up with pictures that will be displayed on 12 vendors’ tables.
When a child finds a matching picture, they will receive a stamp. Once all 12 stamps have been collected, Community For Kids will give them a backpack filled with school supplies.
Community For Kids is prepared to hand out 106 backpacks.
Because of COVID-19, Ratliff said event organizers didn’t feel like they could hold Safety on the Blue in a safe manner, as the various booths and games would be too hard to sanitize throughout the event.
Instead, Safety on the Blue will participate in the scavenger hunt and will still be handing out lifejackets to those under 18 and sharing water safety information with kids who stop by the booth.
“We still wanted to find a way,” Ratliff said of the changes. “This information is so important because we are surrounded by water, so we see lots of accidents on the water. Of course, it’s going to happen. We want to make sure children at a young age know the water safety rules, know how to protect themselves and keep themselves safe and know who is going to come for them if something happens. We just wanted to make sure kids were still getting that information.”
Find more information on the Wild and Wonderful West Virginia Water Festival here.