CHH sponsors tobacco free fun

TORRINGTON — The Northwest CT Partnership For Tobacco Free Communities will be spreading the word on the dangers of tobacco use and vaping at this year’s Main Street Marketplace in downtown Torrington on Wednesday, Aug. 1.

Attendees are encouraged to stop by the group’s Tobacco-Free Family Fun Zone located on City Hall Avenue from 5 to 9 p.m. for activities, games, prizes and giveaways, and information emphasizing building a tobacco free community.

The zone will feature a “Big Daddy” trailer mounted race track where kids can try their skills navigating model race cars to win prizes. Area students and educators have developed educational messages and displays that will be featured to help get the message out that kids should not be fooled by tobacco companies and their products.

The partnership has been addressing the rise and harmful effects of tobacco use among younger people including e-cigarettes or vaping pipes which are also referred to as Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems. The soaring use of e-cigarettes among young people is now a major public health concern, and has become a $3.5B industry that is effectively targeting the youth of America.

The Northwest CT Partnership For Tobacco Free Communities is a community intervention program focused on tobacco use prevention and control in youth and young adults residing in northwest Connecticut.

Representatives from Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, EDAdvance, McCall Center For Behavioral Health, Fit Together, and the Torrington Area Health District are collaborators who meet regularly to advance tobacco free initiatives. The main goal of the partners is to actively engage and mobilize community resources with adolescent and young adult tobacco prevention and control strategies and promote tobacco free living as a social norm.

This is the final evening of the 2018 Main Street Marketplace. Families, singles, people of all ages converge and energize downtown Torrington creating an electric atmosphere, set against the quarter mile backdrop of a beautiful New England city draped in “turn of the century” architecture. Visit mainstreetmarketplace.org for more information and a schedule of events. Rain date is Thursday, Aug. 2.

Contributed photo / The Northwest CT Partnership For Tobacco Free Communities is highlighting the dangers of tobacco use and vaping at this year’s Main Street Marketplace in on Wednesday.