Summer Safety Festival Attracts Hundreds

Michael Swannie couldn’t decide what he liked more: gunning the engine of a Ventura Police Department motorcycle, poking around the inside of the Sheriff’s Department helicopter or petting Santa Paula K-9 officer Sultan.

The Port Hueneme 6-year-old said it was all fun, but finally decided the helicopter was the best part of Saturday’s Summer Safety Beach Festival at Port Hueneme Beach Park.

“I’ve never seen a helicopter up close before, only up in the sky,” Michael said. “I never knew they were so big.”

Organized by the Port Hueneme Police Department and the Kiwanis Club, the inaugural festival attracted hundreds of people to the beach’s parking lot to learn more about safety.

Participants included representatives from the Oxnard, Ventura, Santa Paula and Port Hueneme police departments, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, the California Highway Patrol and the Ventura County Fire Department.

“It’s an opportunity for us to help people be safe during the summer and give them a chance to meet police officers and learn about what they do,” said Port Hueneme Officer Maggie O’Neill. “Hopefully it will help cut down on some of the problems we have during the summer.”

In addition to seeing the motorcycles and helicopter on display, families got a chance to handle some of the high-powered weapons used by law enforcement agencies, watch a robot demonstration by the sheriff’s bomb squad and talk with officers.

“We all came just to let people know what we do and hopefully let the kids know that there’s never a reason for them to be scared of us,” Santa Paula Police Sgt. Carlos Juarez said as he helped a group of kids try on some bulletproof helmets.

Dan Gildea, a lifeguard at Port Hueneme Beach, was also at the event, teaching kids and parents how to be safe in the water.

“What we try to do is waterproof the kids and get them to understand how to protect themselves when they’re out swimming,” he said. “These are really dangerous beaches if you don’t know what’s up.” Last summer, Gildea said, county lifeguards made 225 rescues during the three-month season. He hoped the event would drive home the importance of water safety.

And if the cautions of lifeguards didn’t impress the crowd, reality did.

Shortly after the event began, lifeguards rushed into the water to help a man who had gotten sucked into a rip current. The man was pulled out unharmed, but shaken.

“That’s the kind of thing we’re telling people to watch out for,” Gildea said, pointing to a visible eddy about 50 feet off the beach. “That’s what’s so dangerous.”