On Saturday May 8, 2010, I had the pleasure of DJing/Emceeing the 20th Annual Drug Free Fair at the Cranbury School. The theme this year was "iTune Out Drugs." The mission of the Drug Free Fair is
"to extend the health education of the students of Cranbury School beyond the classroom, and into the larger community by providing them with a social/educational opportunity to engage in activities and dialog about healthy, safe and 'Drug Free' living."I awoke to overcast skies and while driving over, it started to rain. The organizers decided to wait out the rain, and amazingly it cleared up and turned into a beautiful sunny day. Hundreds of town residents came out to support this great cause. The Committee did a great job organzing a variety of fun and educational events. Some of the exhibitors and activities:
(1) Helicopter landing by the U.S. National Guard. Then the kids were able to look inside the cockpit of this sleek bird;
(2) Impaired driving simulator (licensed and permitted drivers were able to drive golf carts while wearing goggles);
(3) Mercer County Sheriffs Office - offering gun lock safety information, and the Middesex County Sheriffs Office offering child fingerprinting;
(4) Appearance by Miss New Jersey 2009, Ashley Shaffer (
http://www.missnewjersey.net) , who was signing autographs at the Fitness Zone (of East Windsor) stand (
http://www.njg-fitnesszone.com).
(5) Vintage T-Shirt modeling show - kids wore shirts from prior year's Drug Free fairs. I Emceed the show, reading the themes of prior years. Miss New Jersey modeled the 2010 shirt!
(6) Appearance by Cranbury Volunteer Fire and First Aid squad, where they showed the "Jaws of Life" used to extricate drivers from accidents (often caused by drugs and alcohol);
(7) Huge rock climbing wall brought out by the National Guard;
(8) Appearance by Princeton High School cheerleaders who performed some cheers!
(9) Live band performance by a duo that included a Cranbury School teacher, Sean Cox, who played a relaxing set of acoustic rock covers such as done by the Goo Goo Dolls. As the DJ, I spun a variety of upbeat pop, disco and dance music, with a few line dances thrown in for good measure;
(10) Custom bead-bracelet booth operated by the Cranbury School PTO;
(11) For the grand finale, East Coast Martial Arts Institute of East Windsor (
http://www.ecmai.com) had numerous star students perform various feats of agility and strength. For the grand finale, Jason Reilly kicked through a thick stack of wooden boards, and then punched through a cinderblock!
Those guests who gathered the requisite information received free t-shirts.
The big takeaway from this event was that drugs and alcohol ruin lives. While playing a Michael Jackson track, I thought to myself, "what a shame" that this talented artist was taken out of his prime. Drugs and alcohol can suck you in and pull you down slowly, and it's hard to escape once you're in their grasp. I hope that this lesson was not lost on the youth in attendance at yesterday's Drug Free Fair.
