Sean Parker
Saturday, April 17, 2010 7:04 pm

Carly Davenport leaves a free book table with two titles Amber Alexander helped her select.

Children and parents enjoyed free health information and services and a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Brown-Spurlock Park during the Children's Health Fair

Activities and information were provided by the Chamber of Commerce, REACH, and the Coordinated School Health System.

Cannon County CHS director Connie Foster stressed the importance of nutrition and exercise.

"Getting better food in our schools is a complicated process, there are budget issues... sometimes you just can't take away something unhealthy without upsetting students. We're trying to add fresh and healthy options rather than take away things kids are used to."

REACH Director Angela King, who organized the Children's Health Fair, said that she initially got the idea from a similar fair in DeKalb County.

"They're doing one there that's really awesome. I wanted to bring together the agencies in the county who are supporting children, to get people thinking about health issues and also to raise awareness of REACH ... we brought out registration forms in case anyone wants to sign up."

In addition to all of the health-related pamphlets and handouts, tables of free books and clothes were set up for children and parents to enjoy.

The Cannon Arts Dance Studio provided music and dance throughout the day.

Chief Tony Burnett and Asst. Chief Darryl Young along with members of the Tennessee Highway Patrol were inspecting child car seats for quality and proper installation.

"Any number of things can go wrong with a car seat," Burnett explained, "some units can be broken, some may be under recall, and all of them have a limited span of reliability."

Of the units checked out on Saturday, about a third of them failed inspection and are slated for destruction. "We don't want someone pulling the bad ones out of the trash and selling them at a yard sale or anything," Burnett said.