Valley Children's hospital staff and volunteers host health and safety fair

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- For a 12th year Chukchansi Park doubled as a classroom for more than 1,500 1st and 2nd graders from throughout the Central Valley.

"The more interactive we can make it the more the kids are going to remember," said Mary Jo Quintero, Valley Children's Hospital.

It's called May Day May Day-- the health and safety fair put on by Valley Children's Healthcare started in 2005.

"We had four schools from Fresno Unified and we had 200 kids. It was just one quarter of the stadium; maybe we had about eight or nine booths, and it was all about water safety," said Quintero.

Since its inception it's grown to cover the entire ballpark. More than 350 volunteers join law enforcement and first responders to man more than 80 booths covering everything from internet safety to stranger danger.

It's Kylie Pina's first trip to the ballpark.

"It feels amazing and it's like you're in a brand new place you never went to."

Pina's favorite lesson was water safety.

With the summer heat fast approaching many turn to a dip in the water to cool off, but these students learned first-hand that canals can be a little too cold.

So far this year, 17 children in the Central Valley have suffered water related injuries with two fatalities.

"Even though we've had a significant decrease, almost 42-percent, since we started out program, but one child is too many," said Quintero.

It is not just the children that will take away from May Day.

"They are going to share all of this with mom and dad when they get home, so it really is a double header we're going to get the parents through the kids," said Quintero.