Santa Fe Fire Department Family Fun Festival

Working to find a way to involve a sponsor in our Summer Reading Program in Denver one year, it was suggested that Ronald McDonald sit on a 2 story chair created by the artist Donald Lipski which was located just outside the Children’s Room. One problem, how to get Ronald on to the chair?

Would the artist allow it as the chair was an art piece? Luckily Lipski was charmed by the idea and I knew the Fire Chief. Why the fire chief? On the morning of the event a fire truck with a cherry picker arrived, Ronald McDonald stepped in it and was carefully taken up level to the seat of the chair. But, the one rule Mr. Lipski had made was that only Ronald and NOTHING ELSE could touch the chair. So there suspended 30 feet above a crowd of hundreds of children was Ronald McDonald with three-foot long shoes having to carefully step across the gap to the chair. My life and job flashed before my eyes. What if he tripped or misjudged the distance? Would hundreds of children be maimed for life by the sight of Ronald falling?
Luckily Ronald was very agile and all was well. We could stop holding our breath.

Fire Chief Rivera would surely have done the same if he’d been asked to do it in Santa Fe. I expect a lot of exciting things at the Santa Fe Fire Department Family Fun Festival on Saturday, July 12th on the Plaza, but no cherry picker with Ronald McDonald. This event is as hometown as Mom and apple pie, and it is all free. Stop down to the Plaza between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. and be a kid again. Here are just some of t he fun things to expect:

Food * Drinks * Fire Safety * Radio Disney * Big Oldies 98.5 * Balloons * Face Painting with Annie Rose the Flower Fairy* Sparky the Dog * Smokey the Bear * Woodsy Owl * Castle Jumper * 22 ft. Slide * Obstacle Course * Climbing Wall * Fire Truck Rides* Fire Engine * Ambulance * Rescue Truck* Brush Truck * Haz-Mat Truck * Command Vehicle * Bike Medic’s * Antique Engine 3.

About the only think you can’t do is drive a fire truck. That’s okay, there is still plenty to see and do. Come and bring the family.

Written by PCH at Main