Pacey Rieke and Charlotte Baumann entered the home stretch of a bicycle riding course set up at the Bike Safety Extravaganza outside the Marshall Area YMCA on Monday. The course was a way for kids to practice using hand signals when they turned or stopped their bikes.

MARSHALL — There was fun, food and prizes, but staying safe was the main focus at the annual Bike Safety Extravaganza event Monday afternoon in Marshall. Marshall Police officers, North Memorial Ambulance crew members, and area safety organizations were ready to help young cyclists learn to be safe while riding their bikes.

“It’s a beautiful day for it,” said Community Services Officer Cliff Bahr. Volunteers said the turnout was looking good for this year’s bike safety event. With Monday’s sunny, mild weather, lots of kids were riding their bikes to the Marshall Area YMCA.

Bahr was one of the event workers helping local residents register their bikes. Registration helps law enforcement identify and recover bikes if they are stolen or lost.

“This is our largest bicycle event,” Bahr said of the Safety Extravaganza. However, if community members missed Monday’s event, they could still have their bikes registered at the Law Enforcement Center in Marshall. Bahr said a good time to ask about bike registration would be between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the LEC.

Besides bike registration and a free hot dog meal, the Safety Extravaganza featured activities like prize drawings and trivia games. At one table, kids played Plinko and answered bike safety questions marked out on the board.

“Is it the law to wear a helmet in Minnesota?” Susie Olson asked Caleb Arevalo and Klokwa Wah, as they played the Plinko game.

“Yes,” the boys answered. To their surprise, it wasn’t the right answer.

Olson said Minnesota state law actually doesn’t require bicyclists to wear helmets. But it was still important to wear bike helmets to help protect against head injuries, she said.

Outside in the YMCA parking lot, lines of orange traffic cones marked out a bike safety course that kids were riding through. Police officers were present to teach young riders about making proper hand signals when turning, and when stopping at stop signs.

Kids at the Safety Extravaganza were having fun with the safety course and different activities. Olive Dvorak said she biked to the YMCA with her family that afternoon. Dvorak said she liked riding her bike because “I like to feel the wind in my hair.”