Touch-a-Truck is huge success
CRANBERRY TWP — It wasn't hard to find the location of the township's Touch-a-Truck event Wednesday morning in Community Park. All you had to do was follow the sounds of screaming children and beeping horns.
More than 500 people came out to see and interact with an array of huge vehicles, including fire trucks, dump trucks, school buses, tow trucks and even a monster truck.
Organized by the township's library, the Touch-a-Truck event allows children and adults to climb on and into these large vehicles. It also provided them a chance to talk with professionals such as police, emergency responders and public works employees.
Ted Fessides, the deputy chief of the township's EMS organization, had to call in reinforcements only 30 minutes into the morning. It's one of the first times in his career that calling for more backup was a good thing.
“I wish I had something like this when I was a kid,” he said standing at the back of an ambulance as dozens of children waited in line for a chance to climb in the vehicle. “Where else in one location can you go from an ambulance to a fire truck to a snow plow? It's just a cool event.”
Fessides had to call someone from the station to come and deliver more plastic helmets given to each child in line. He had almost run out of supplies after only 30 minutes.
Marlene Stein watched as three little ones scampered about the parking lot in Community Park, jumping from one vehicle to the next. The youngest, 4-year -old Wyatt, wanted to jump on the school bus and honk the horn.
“This little guy wanted to touch a truck,” Stein said with a smile. “He isn't in school yet and hasn't had the opportunity to get so close to a school bus.”
Lori Grim admitted she had no idea the event was happening but stumbled upon it when she took her children to the park. It was a tremendous find, according to her son, Dylan.
“It's cool so far but I haven't done what I want to do yet,” he said, adding that the monster truck and an Army truck were at the top of his list.
Many of the smaller children climbed into the huge vehicles via a stepstool. Once inside, their faces lit up with bright smiles as they slammed on the horn relentlessly.
Joelleen Yerace watched as a firefighter lifted her 2-year-old son, Henry, into the driver's seat of a fire truck. He started smiling and giggling as he gazed about the cabin.
“He's 2, so he's obsessed with all sorts of trucks,” Yerace said. “Fire trucks, dump trucks, you name it. This is awesome.”
Library employees Rachael Troianos and Annemarie Lamperski helped organize the event, which had to switch locations this year because of the expected increase in attendance.
It's not easy packing nearly a dozen large vehicles into a parking lot with 500 people, but they stood back and watched with smiles at the packs of children running from spot to spot.
“Are you kidding?” Troianos asked rhetorically. “I want to do it, too.”
Lamperski admitted the Touch-a-Truck event, now in its second year, will likely continue given its growing popularity.
“The kids love it,” she said. “The parents love it, too.”
