I hear that life jackets are totally in this season, and you can get one for free if you’re one of the first 300 kids to show up at the Lake Union Boats Afloat show:

The children’s life jacket giveaway kick’s-off at 1 p.m. on Wednesday with the annual Pro-Am Celebrity Sailing Race featuring KING TV’s Jeff Renner, Seattle Times sports reporters Greg Bishop and John Boyle along with Olympic synchronized swimming gold and silver medalist Tracie Ruiz-Conforto, Olympic rowing silver medalist John Stillings, Olympic canoeist Jordan Malloch, UW basketball legend Chester Dorsey, UW rowing coach and former Olympic coach Bob Ernst and Olympic sculling coach Emil Kossev.

The local celebrities will be available to sign autographs while joining Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center’s Dr. Linda Quan, a national drowning expert, in fitting the first kids attending the show with life jackets.

The Boats Afloat show is all about convincing you to buy a new boat, but learning a little water safety isn’t a bad thing. Getting in will cost you $10 and $5 for your kid, and your kid’ll get a fashionable bright orange life jacket to boot. One does have to question the wisdom behind having a boat show at the very end of boating season, but I’m sure it makes sense to someone.

If you just want to promote water safety, Childrens has a whole website devoted to drowning prevention.