Saturday’s Open House at Safety City was a chance for kids to enjoy food and fun games, and to explore Safety City’s mini businesses.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
LIMA — Officer Eric Mericle opened the doors to Safety City for his first annual Open House. The Open House had many activities for children.
Many local businesses with buildings at Safety City were on hand to welcome kids and their parents to their mini business. Hotdogs, chips, candy, water and cookies were donated by West Ohio Food Bank, Chief Supermarkets and Tim Horton’s. The streets of Safety City were colored with sidewalk chalk donated by ArtSpace/Lima. A tour the Survive Alive house was available. There was a dunk tank from the Basement Doctor.
Lima Police Department officer Eric Mericle commented, “(Safety City) is an important place where we teach kids amazing things. So I wanted to have an open house so people can come out and experience what we got.”
Safety City was established in 1978 through a partnership between the Lima Police Department and the Lima Noon Optimist Club, which is the private sponsor of Safety City along with the Club’s community partners. The Lima Fire Department and the Lima City Schools also share in a partnership with Safety City. Safety City has served well over 100,000 youth throughout the years. The Safety City complex spreads over 4 acres which includes a classroom building, a fire safety training house, a number of mini-buildings making up the cityscape, a play area, roads to ride bikes and a number of other training infrastructure.
“It’s neat to have the buildings out here because kids love them,” Mericle said. “They have the most fun riding bikes because it’s their own little city.”
LPD Officer Eric Mericle coordinates all aspects of Safety City, and can be contacted at 419-221-5269.
Reach Dean Brown at 567-242-0409
