York Electric Cooperative puts a lot of energy into educating the public about electricity. We regularly offer safety demonstrations to students and other groups throughout our service area in an effort to teach important safety lessons to the participants.

A small town is actually set up including miniature buildings and streets as well as overhead wires that at the flip of a switch, conduct real electricity. This reminds participants of the danger of making contact with power lines. Helping out with the lessons are two fuzzy-haired (and maybe, fuzzy-brained) citizens of the tiny town, Leon and Lizzie, who create a buzz of their own. The characters, wired to light up when they come into contact with the energized lines, teach by example-very bad examples, that is. Lizzie often flies kites around power lines. When her kite string touches the line, electricity flows straight back through it to Lizzie. Leon likes to garden but typically harvests a bumper crop of pain. He's not too careful to avoid digging into underground lines.

Personal protective equipment used by a line worker is passed around to the participants. Their tool-laden work belts and bulky, insulated safety gloves and sleeves are used as part of this hands on demonstration.

If you are interested in learning more about this educational opportunity, please contact York Electric's Marketing Department.