A food truck, a dump truck, a pickup truck, a firetruck, a SWAT truck and a water truck sat among an ambulance, a police horse and a motorcycle. It was perhaps the only good kind of traffic jam: a Touch-a-Truck event.
Children were invited to explore vehicles they usually wouldn’t get a chance to at Flower Hill’s first-ever Touch-a-Truck at Village Hall. Older children asked participating adults about each vehicle’s purpose, while kids too young to understand waddled around and honked horns in their (often oversized) hard hats and vests.
“She knows what a fire truck is, but not really what it does,” said Isaac Anteby, who brought his 2-year-old daughter, Audrey Anteby.
“My daughter wakes up early in the morning, and she needed something to do, so this was perfect. She loves trucks, loves being outside and I heard there were some giveaways,” he said. “So this couldn’t be more perfect for us.”
Raeanna Albitsky, 8, said the police car was the most popular among her age group.
“That’s the most popular – kids’ favorite thing,” she said before making her way to the fire truck.
Randall Rosenbaum, mayor of Flower Hill, thought of the event because his neighbor’s 3-year-old daughter, Mia, loves trucks. He offered Mia a visit to Village Hall to see them.
“And then in the back of my mind, I said, ‘Wait a minute. I see all these other groups do a touch-a-truck event. Why don’t I do something like that?’” Rosenbaum said. “Now Mia can see every single truck.”
Mia wasn’t the only kid interested in trucks, as dozens excitedly explored the different vehicles in between getting temporary tattoos, eating ice cream and posing for photos in construction gear.
“I am unbelievably pleased at the turnout, and I’m looking forward to doing this again and again and again. We’ll make it bigger and better,” Rosenbaum said.
Marla Wolfson, village administrator of Flower Hill, said she was excited about the idea when Rosenbaum pitched it – not only because touch-a-truck events are popular in other communities, but because she has seen the interest first-hand. Wolfson’s grandson has visited Village Hall to touch the trucks on his own, she said, and she’s excited that other kids are getting the same opportunity.
“It’s just really great. These kids and the parents are thrilled,” she said.
Wolfson said the village was not sure how many attendees would show up, but was pleased with the large turnout.
“This year we were small in some of our presence because we didn’t know how many kids – if I was gonna get, like, 20 or 100. But obviously, we outdid it. We outdid ourselves.”
