Cary Johnson, director of crime prevention for Jefferson County’s District Attorney’s Office, was giving 120 crime prevention seminars a year until he came up with an idea to consolidate his workload and reach people in larger numbers with more information.

“There’s got to be some bigger venues that we could create that might get more information out on a broader scale,” Johnson said.

Thus, the Jefferson County Safety Fair was born.

In its fifth year, the Jeffco Safety Fair started at 9 a.m. on Aug. 24, with document shredding, prescription round-up and electronics recycling which were some of the more popular services provided at the fair. Iron Mountain, a company which provides secure shredding, received 478 pounds of paper for shredding according to transportation Manager Steve Casey.

“We estimate, by weight, to be up about 18-percent,” Casey said.

The main point of the fair though is not to only provide recycling services, but also information on crime prevention, safety and wellness.

“We’d rather people never became a victim in the first place,” said Johnson. “We think they have to have good information as one of the keys to avoid becoming a victim.”

“This fair’s amazing,” Alandra Mothorpe said, sales representative for United Healthcare Medicare solutions. “There’s just a wealth of information.”

This year, Mothorpe answered questions regarding Medicare, and gave information regarding services provided with United.

“I think the entire fair itself is beneficial to go to,” she said.

Mothorpe was one out of 70 vendors who set up at the fair to donate four hours of their time. New this year was CPR for pets and registration for a new program called CodeRED, an emergency notifications system that allows Colorado residents to receive phone calls related to emergency disasters.

Attendees could even register to vote, or be added to Colorado’s no-call list for solicitors.

While adults gathered in the Exhibit Hall to receive a wealth of information, children’s activities were held outside including Evergreen Fire Department’s exhibit on how to use a fire extinguisher. Bike safety directed by police officers offered kids a chance to receive a bike helmet courtesy of Lutheran Hospital.

“There’s just more stuff there than you could believe,” Johnson said. “We’re just very grateful for people who have come along and assisted us.”