FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE---
Nicole Stoddard Customer Service,
SLYDE-the-Playground-Hound
Tel: 1-800-388-2196
Fax: (208)652-7826
slyde@playgroundhound.com
www.SLYDE.com

NATIONAL PLAYGROUND SAFETY DAY FEATURES SLYDE THE PLAYGROUND HOUND

Ashton, ID - March 9, 2004 - SLYDE the Playground Hound will reveal his kid-inspired playground safety messages at the 102nd Annual Illinois PTA convention at the Hotel Pere Marquette in Peoria, IL on Friday, April 30th and Saturday, May 1st. The SLYDE appearance is made possible, in part by the playground sales company, Illinois At Play and Midwest Sales Company, Mark and Jill Peterson, owners. Kathy Mallek, president of Illinois at Play is a representative for SLYDE's corporate sponsor, BCI Burke Company, a playground manufacturer that has teamed up with SLYDE to make this and other public appearances during National Playground Safety Week, April 26th-30th.

Elementary schools, recreation departments, city parks and safety advocates nationwide will celebrate playground safety and promote the various avenues for improving safety. SLYDE the Playground Hound is playground safety education for children. He captures the hearts of the playground users and in his cool and colorful way teaches them to have fun and play safely.

SLYDE, a larger-than-life safety icon, is a role model who convinces children of their responsibility for playing safely at the playground. He teaches them to identify hazards; ones that may exist on a play structure and ones they might cause. The brilliance of this huggable hound is that he speaks to children on a level that they embrace and delivers a message that they easily recall. "Tuck It In, or Take It Off!" is what he'll have them yelling once he demonstrates how drawstrings and hoods can cause strangulation.

While his enthusiasm and character charisma convinces the children he meets, the national injury statistics usually grab the adults. The Consumer Products Safety Commission reports that every 2.5 minutes a child visits an emergency room due to a playground injury, and nearly 20 children die annually as a result of such injuries.

SLYDE the Playground Hound was created in 2000 by Curtis Stoddard, a Certified Playground Safety Inspector and Child Safety Advocate. A state approved curriculum for PreK-2 enables teachers to spread SLYDE'S message through a fun-filled, interactive classroom kit. The curriculum is supplemented with a life-size poster, board game, a storybook of SLYDE's life, stickers, and coloring books. SLYDE is anxious to visit all playgrounds and encourage all children to "Play Smart, Play Safe!" tm. Contact SLYDE Customer Service Department at, 800-388-2196, or visit SLYDE at www.slyde.com. Cartoons, photos of SLYDE w/children, and SLYDE graphics are available.

SLYDE will make other appearances during Playground Safety Week, specifics will be released soon.

For more information on National Playground Safety Week contact the National Program for Playground Safety (NPPS), http://www.uni.edu/playground/

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