City Of Edwardsville And Edwardsville YMCA Focus On Safety With Community Events

EDWARDSVILLE – The City of Edwardsville and the Edwardsville YMCA are teaming up this summer to promote safety and preparedness whether you’re on the go, in the pool or anywhere else.

A series of upcoming fun and free events will offer guidance on compressions-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation along with water safety education.

The Edwardsville Fire Department will lead two compressions-only CPR “pop-up” events this month at the Land of Goshen Community Market, offering demonstrations, opportunities to test your CPR skills and other helpful information. Look for City firefighters in their booth at the market’s 2026 location in City Park, 101 S. Buchanan Street, on Saturday, June 20 and June 27, 2026. The market is open from 8 a.m. to noon.

The Edwardsville YMCA will host its free Water Safety Day from 2-7 p.m. on Friday, June 26. This annual community event will take place at the Meyer YMCA outdoor pool, 7348 Goshen Road, and will include opportunities to swim, life jackets for children and infants, sunglasses, Culver’s custard cups and two large water slides – all for free. The YMCA’s aquatics staff will lead water safety demonstrations while the Edwardsville Fire Department will share guidance about compressions-only CPR. The Water Safety Day is being held in partnership with Phillips 66 Wood River Refinery.

Edwardsville Alderwoman Elizabeth Grant, Ward 7, emphasized the importance of knowing and being comfortable using basic, life-saving skills such as CPR.

“We’re all out and about this summer. Wouldn’t it be nice if you knew that someone you were with felt comfortable doing CPR? Think how much safer we’d all be,” Grant said. “This cause has been on my heart and I felt like we needed to do this at the beginning of summer.”

Brandon Bell, the president and CEO of the Edwardsville YMCA, echoed that idea, also noting the importance of safety and awareness during pool weather.

"The Edwardsville YMCA is proud to serve as a leader in aquatic safety for our community. According to the CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/drowning/data), more children ages 1-4 die from drowning than any other cause of death, drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death for children ages 5-14, and every year in the United States, there are over 4,000 unintentional drowning deaths,” Bell said. “Learning CPR and aquatic safety tips are easy ways to be prepared or to help prevent aquatic accidents. The Edwardsville YMCA thanks the Edwardsville Fire Department for leading CPR demonstrations in our community, and we also thank the Phillips 66 Wood River Refinery and the City of Edwardsville for their support of our free aquatic safety day on June 26."

Follow the two organizations on their respective Facebook pages for more details and opportunities.