Family Fun in the Sun this weekend

Water safety will be taught, new lifejackets will be given out and games will be played at the Remembering Wyatt Dale Water Safety Family Fun in the Sun event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24, at Lake Eddlemen.

This will be the sixth annual Family Fun in the Sun event held by the organization, according to co-founder Tracey Terasas. The event was originally scheduled for May 18 on the historic downtown square, but weather forced the event to be rescheduled.

“July 7, 2013 Wyatt (Dale Terasas, 3,) was out at Possum Kingdom (Lake) and, five seconds, his dad turned around and Wyatt went under,” Terasas, Wyatt’s grandmother, said in a previous interview. “So, we started, that day, giving lifejackets to kids and doing events in different places all over the country. (…) We don’t want them to be afraid of water, we want families to enjoy water, they just have to do it safely.”

Remembering Wyatt Dale Water Safety was co-founded by Terasas and her son Aaron, of Amarillo.

“Wyatt’s Dad and almost of all of his children will be there, my parents and brother (will also be there,)” she said. “We desperately need volunteers (…) because you can never have too many volunteers and that’s our biggest need.”

During the Family Fun in the Sun event Terasas said she is hopeful to give out 300 lifejackets, which will be fitted to children who weigh less than 100 lbs. after handing out nearly 300 last year.

“We did an event out at Possum Kingdom where we partnered with the Bravos River Authority and Texas Parks and Wildlife and we gave quite a few there,” she said. “Because, we had to cancel in May, the Fire Department volunteered to take lifejackets that we had and hand them out at the station because we did not want a gap. We gave out about 75 jackets at the health fair. So we have given out quite a few already.”

For the rest of the story, see the Wednesday, Aug. 21 edition of The Graham Leader.