Glade Run Food Truck Festival features Touch A Truck event
Glade Run Lutheran Services executives have figured out small children plus big trucks with even bigger horns equals big turnout.
The nonprofit held its seventh annual Food Truck Festival on Saturday, Aug. 8, and switched out its accompanying car cruise for a Touch-A-Truck event. Police cars, construction vehicles, school buses, a fire engine, a street sweeper and a historic Jeep were featured along with the festival’s food trucks, vendors, live animals and a free wagon ride.
The activities allowed the companies providing the vehicles to interact with the community, and even get some children excited for school, according to volunteer Margie Anderson, who was handing out fire hats, cookies, candy and Capri Suns to children in front of an open school bus.
“It’s been steady; a lot of families; a lot of children,” she said.
The Harmony Fire District’s engine was another favorite among children.
“Any little kid is fascinated with fire trucks,” said John Blum, who’s been with the fire district for five years.
“It’s a good way to show the community (members) who support us what their dollars go to,” he said.
The event also brought community members onto the nonprofit’s campus where they could explore its grounds and offerings.
“It’s really great because it gives us the opportunity to show off our campus,” said Sheila Talarico, Glade Run’s vice president of development and external affairs. “A lot of people have never been here or realize that we’re here.”
The campus has been seated off West Beaver Street for 172 years, she said, with some historical structures to remind visitors of its age.
“We want to be a resource to everyone because our services could touch any family at any given moment,” said President and CEO Steven Green Sr. “If they don’t know us now or get services from us now, they might in the future.”
Talarico added one in four people have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder, which demonstrates the need for their services.
The funds raised from the event go toward offering mental health and intellectual development care including paying copays and deductibles for people who struggle to afford them, and to maintaining the nonprofit’s Butler winter warming center.
“We don’t turn anybody away,” Green said.
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Landon Gates dances with Sparky the Fire Dog at Glade Run’s Family Food Truck Festival & Touch-A-Truck, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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From left, Steven and Michelle Green and Jim and Linda Thompson with Glade Run Lutheran Services stand for a photo at Glade Run’s Family Food Truck Festival & Touch-A-Truck, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Darcyl Claiborne dances with Sparky the Fire Dog at Glade Run’s Family Food Truck Festival & Touch-A-Truck, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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A child looks at a horse at Glade Run’s Family Food Truck Festival & Touch-A-Truck, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Glade Run Lutheran Services CEO Steve Green helps run one of the booths at Glade Run’s Family Food Truck Festival & Touch-A-Truck, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Attendees of Glade Run’s Family Food Truck Festival & Touch-A-Truck eat food under the shade of tents, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Kennedy Moore holds a chicken at Glade Run’s Family Food Truck Festival & Touch-A-Truck, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Aidan Moore holds a chicken at Glade Run’s Family Food Truck Festival & Touch-A-Truck, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Attendees of Glade Run’s Family Food Truck Festival & Touch-A-Truck visit an Ambridge Italian Villa food truck, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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John Schrader, right, lifts Jacob and Vivian Turner into a bus via the wheelchair lift at Glade Run’s Family Food Truck Festival & Touch-A-Truck, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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Raffle baskets lien tables at Glade Run’s Family Food Truck Festival & Touch-A-Truck, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
