Wielding big scissors and flanked by 36 pre-K "towns people", Safety Town Mayor Bucky Badger dedicated Safety Town with a ribbon cutting ceremony on July 9. The event marked the launch of Safety Town, a project of Madison School Community Recreation (MSCR), Safe Communities and the Madison Fire Department.

Safety Town uses hands-on activities taught in an actual "town" — a small scale city with streets, homes, businesses and sidewalks — to teach local children to be safe. The program is designed to provide comprehensive safety education to children entering kindergarten - a critical age at which to instill safety behaviors.

A team of safety experts from a wide range of organizations join together during Safety Town to provide fun, interactive lessons on bicycle, pedestrian and traffic safety, water safety, home safety, protective behaviors and fire safety. Many of the Safety Town staff, hired and trained by MSCR, are current MMSD staff or retired staff, as in the case of Director Vicki Cochalis.

This year Safety Town expanded programming to include over 350 pre-kindergarten children who participated in Safety Town as part of MSCR's SREC (Summer Recreation and Enrichment Classes) program. SREC runs in conjunction with the district's Summer Extended Learning programs. The program expansion was made possible through the support of many generous sponsors in the community, totaling over $13,000 in support funding.

Safety Town house sponsors are State Farm Insurance, AAA Wisconsin, American Family Children's Hospital, Physicians Plus Insurance, Madison Gas and Electric, CUNA Mutual Group Foundation and Wal-Mart Foundation.