Manatee County

MANATEE COUNTY – Manatee County’s 19th Annual Manatee Children’s Summit, the area’s biggest and most informative expo for parents and kids, coming up this month.

Dozens of local child and family organizations will have booths for kids and parents, each encouraging this year’s theme, “Our Children: Safe from the Start.”

The summit will be held Saturday, Sept. 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Bradenton Area Convention Center, 1 Haben Blvd., Palmetto. The event is free and open to the public.  Food and beverages will be available for purchase.

“We have a fun lineup of educational and awareness activities and seminars to help families protect growing children and to keep them safe throughout their lives,” said Manatee County Human Services Manager Mike Neuges. “There will be valuable information for parents and children on a variety of important topics like stranger safety, bully prevention, heatstroke, the dangers of second-hand smoke, healthy eating, dental hygiene and safe routes to school for bikers and walkers.”

As always, there will be plenty of kid entertainment including train rides, a rock wall, a Scooby Doo bounce house, the Mote Marine touch tank and other family fun activities. There will also be information on parenting, child care, after school and special needs programs and services.

Each year thousands children and adults attend the Children’s Summit.

The Event began in 1994 to give residents a better idea of family resources and to give children’s service providers a way to increase community awareness of available programming. Over the years, the Children’s Summit has become a solid partnership of government, nonprofit organizations and the private sector.

To learn more about this event, call (941) 749-3030 and ask to speak with someone in the Children’s Section. To learn more about the social services Manatee County Government offers children, families and adults, visit www.mymanatee.org/community.