PLAMONDON - On June 8, a group of two dozen youngsters learned the basics of bicycle safety and the importance of always wearing a helmet during a fun bike rodeo that took place outside of École Beauséjour in Plamondon.
The safety-focused, family friendly event was organized by Lac La Biche County Enforcement Services with the assistance of Fire Rescue Services.
Nidaar Teng-Yang, who for the past three years has worked as a community street ambassador for Lac La Biche County, one of the ‘wranglers’ at the bike rodeo along with representatives from enforcement services, fire rescue, and FCSS.
Teng-Yang said teaching children to ride properly is important to keep them informed about safe practices and to prevent injuries and accidents.
“I think it’s important because we want to make sure that they have the information kind of in case they go out by themselves,” she told Lakeland This Week, adding that in addition to a series of bike safety stations set up for kids to visit and learn from, the rodeo also featured an obstacle course which kids could ride their bicycles through.
In keeping with the theme of bike safety, one of the stations that had been set up next to Ecole Beausejour allowed kids to get their bicycles checked out and tuned up if they had any issues.
Getting onto a bicycle without wearing a brain bucket isn’t a wise idea. Luckily, there was a helmet check station where people could get properly fitted for helmets.
“We also gave out free helmets as well,” she said.
The youngsters were also provided with a lesson in the consequences of not wearing a proper helmet. Teng-Yang continued by saying that a representative from Alberta Health Services (AHS) was on hand to talk about helmet safety and how it affects the brain. A Jello brain sat on the table, serving as an example of what a brain injury looks like.
During the bike rodeo-which included a barbeque-kids were also given the opportunity to go home with brand-new bicycles by entering into the raffle that was held as part of the event. According to Teng-Yang, four lucky winners received bicycles. Even for youngsters who weren’t fortunate enough to snag some new wheels, there were smaller prizes given away in the form of bicycle accessories that included bells and lights.
Organizers were gearing up to host a second bike rodeo at the Lac La Biche County Protective Services building on June 22 from 10 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. While cool, rainy weather on June 8 put a bit of a damper on the Plamondon event-with fewer people than usual showing up-Teng-Yang is hopeful that conditions will be more favourable for the upcoming bike rodeo.
“Normally we have you know quite a large turnout for the Lac La Biche one, so we’re hoping there’s good weather as well,” she said.
