On March 29, over 40 different trucks rolled into the Coleytown Elementary School parking lot for the Touch-A-Truck event hosted by the Westport Weston Cooperative Nursery School.
“This is the ninth annual, and it’s just grown bigger and bigger every year,” Kris Jandora, a Co-Op Touch-A-Truck Volunteer and a member of the publicity committee, said. “It’s a real community event – it’s a fundraising event for our preschool, but much more importantly it’s an event for the whole community.”
Among the different trucks at the event were two cranes, a Norwalk Transit bus, an ambulance, a Madison Valley cement truck, a Gault Oil truck and a Westport fire engine.
Children were able to sit in the driver’s seat of many of these trucks, even honk the truck’s horn and speak to the drivers of the trucks.
“Kids seem to love fire trucks; they seem to light up when they see the big red engine,” Westport lieutenant firefighter Brian Meadows said. “But we also try to use this time to educate the public on the services we provide.”
For a $20 admission fee per family, children could also play in a bounce house, have their faces painted, take a ride on the Rambling Railroad train and bite into a slice of pizza from Naples Restaurant Pizza Truck or a hot dog from Jr’s Weeniemobile.
Parent Michael Munenzon enjoyed the community environment of the event and said Touch-A-Truck was a great way to spend time with his son. “He can see all these trucks, there will be music and he’ll be a happy camper.”
Jandora said the event “really brings the community together” and was appreciative of the town’s support. “A lot of volunteers go into this … we just hope it continues to be a really fun touchpoint event for the whole community.”
