Fire trucks, trampolines and a bicycle obstacle course will be on campus this Saturday for the Bike Rodeo and Summer Safety Fair in Gainesville.
The fourth annual event, held between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., offers children activities to educate them about bike safety and road rules.
This year, the rodeo is being held in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center parking lot. The event also has its first major sponsor: Kohl’s department store.
John Stephen, the clinical leader at UF Health Shands Hospital for Children, said before the Kohl’s sponsorship, the event never had substantial advertising.
“We’ve never had that kind of funding or exposure, so I’m hoping there will be a larger turnout,” he said.
University Police Officer Gregory Castronover said he expects at least 400 kids to attend the event.
“We’re going to have about 400 helmets to give away,” he said.
The helmets were donated by the UF Pedestrian and Bicycling Safety Resource Center.
Children are asked to bring their own bikes, but they will also have the chance to enter into a raffle to win one of two donated bicycles.
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 3/21/2014 under the headline "Bike Rodeo to rally kids, teach safety"]
