The Santa Barbara City Fire Dept. and various other service providers will host the sixth annual Safety Fair to educate families about emergency procedures.

The event will take place this Sunday, aiming to reach out to children and their families and teach the community about emergency preparedness. The event will take place in the De La Guerra Plaza in downtown Santa Barbara from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and it will offer many different activities for children, including arts and crafts, finger painting and free cotton candy and popcorn.

Santa Barbara City Fire Dept. spokeswoman Gracie Huerta said the event is a time for families to learn about some of the different emergency agencies that exist in Santa Barbara and about the safety issues concerning children.

“It’s fun and educational,” Huerta said. “The kids will have an opportunity to learn about safety in a family-fun way.”

Santa Barbara Police Dept. spokesman Lt. Paul McCaffrey said the fair will tackle safety issues head-on. He said safety is an important topic that many people are overlooking and that parents ultimately are the ones responsible for how much their children know about safety.

“A huge part of what teaches children as they grow up is what they see adults doing,” McCaffrey said.

Additionally, McCaffrey said that parents should watch out for their children particularly during this weekend. He said that one of the top risks around Halloween is vehicular accidents.

Huerta said the goal of the safety fair is to have interaction between the safety officials and the children before a crisis happens. Huerta said that they are trying to stimulate conversation between children and emergency service providers, which would hopefully make any potential urgent situation much less frightening.

Airport patrol supervisor Fernando Reynoso said the event serves as a venue for outreach, both to the children and the general public.

Twenty agencies in total will contribute to this year’s Safety Fair. They include the Airport Patrol, American Medical Response, Animal Control, California Highway Patrol and Santa Barbara City Lifeguards.