Touch the Trucks

This past weekend was the Touch the Trucks event put on by the City of Largo. Basically they bring a variety of city vehicles to the central park and let kids climb all over them. They actually don’t let the kids climb on the trucks, but they do let them get behind the wheel and blow the horn (which is all they really want).

The trucks spanned pretty wide ranges. Most popular by far were the emergency vehicles, of which there were several; pumper trucks, ladder trucks (with ladders extended, of course), utility trucks, ambulances, etc.

Garbage trucks are very popular with my boys and they were not disappointed – there were five of various type and operation; the claw which picks up the curbside garbage cans (enabler of my beloved twice-a-week pickup service), the traditional truck with the riders on the back to pick up stuff that doesn’t fit in the can, the grapple which is used for excessively large piles of stuff that the truck-riders can’t pick up, the recycling truck (which gets my vote for best acceleration and shortest braking distance), and the forklift-style dumpster truck.

The road service guys made a good showing with their graders, pavers, excavators, loaders, and dump trucks. The dump truck got my vote for the most terrifying horn.

The city police were there with cars and motorcycles, complete with lights flashing and the occasional siren wail or burp from the bullhorn. Aaron, my 2-year-old, is a motorcycle guy and correctly identified the bikes as Harley-Davidsons.

Not to be outdone, the county sheriff was also there with, get this, an armored SWAT vehicle, an airboat, and a friggin’ helicopter. My boys have an odd fear of helicopters, probably stemming from being invited aboard a formidable Chinook at too early an age, but I did manage to cajole Eli, my 3-year-old, to sit in the cockpit of the sheriff’s Jet Ranger.

There was a smattering of other vehicles; Publix had a semi, city transportation had a bus, and the sanitation folks had this bizarre WetVac-on-wheels thing that they use for clearing jammed sewers. Eli’s favorite was the power company’s bucket truck which they were giving rides on.

In addition to the trucks themselves, the people that work with the trucks are on hand to interact with the kids and describe how the vehicles operate. This ranges necessarily from road construction workers to helicopter pilots. I’m sure they volunteer for the job, but I was surprised at their cordiality nonetheless. The boys had a random interaction with a police officer a few weeks ago and he proved himself very friendly as well.

By the time we left the park the boys were completely over-stimulated and I had the reinforced opinion that local government here gets it right. It is a very welcome change from the perceived corruption and indifference of Atlanta.