Kids get revved up at city’s annual Touch-a-Truck event
WOONSOCKET — While there weren’t any velociraptors roaming the fairgrounds at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs and Marty McFly wasn’t trying desperately to return to the year 1985, that didn’t stop replicas of the Ford Explorer and Jeep Wrangler from “Jurassic Park” or the DeLorean from “Back to the Future” from being among the most popular draws at the annual Touch-a-Truck.
The Woonsocket Rotary Days event drew audiences from around the region to the OLQM fairgrounds for a fun day of excitement, community interaction, and to learn about a variety of vehicles and the people who operate them.
Kevin Greenough, president of the Woonsocket Rotary Club and Touch-a-Truck chairman, said he was “overwhelmed” by the turnout on Saturday morning, as families had gathered as early as 10 a.m. for the opportunity to get up close with police and fire vehicles, heavy-duty loaders, and screen-accurate tributes to vehicles seen in major motion pictures.
“This is what we live for: kids with smiles and laughing,” Greenough said. “It’s why we do this. It gets the families and kids an opportunity to talk with police and firefighters, we bring in State Police demonstrations, the fire department brings the Jaws of Life.”
The Jaws of Life, a hydraulic apparatus used to pry open wrecked
vehicles, are more than just another noteworthy item on display at Touch-a-Truck, as Greenough recalled a story from last year’s festivities that served as a prime example of why the Rotary Club holds this yearly celebration.
Greenough said a family last year was observing a Jaws of Life demonstration at the 2017 Rotary Days Toucha-Truck. The young children watching the show were involved in a serious car accident with their grandmother later in the year and while the grandmother was scared, Greenough said the children were at ease and calm when they saw emergency personnel arrive at the scene with the Jaws.
“Rescue said the kids knew exactly what to do because of Touch-a-Truck,” Greenough said. “That’s one of those things that gives meaning to what we do. It’s why we do it.”
In addition to learning valu- able information about the tools of the trade in the rescue, police, and fire professions, Touch-a-Truck also provides an opportunity for the community to interact with members of the fire department and law enforcement.
Woonsocket Police Chief Thomas F. Oates III called Saturday’s event “a great opportunity for the community to meet and talk with police officers and get to know each other better.”
Sometimes, Oates said, police and the public interact in times of crisis or great consternation, but programs like Saturday’s Touch-a-Truck offered a much more relaxed atmosphere where the police and members of the community could get to know one another, as children perused a variety of police vehicles on display.
Woonsocket Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt thanked Greenough for “his ability to coordinate the entire event and bring everyone together.”
“He seems to expand upon it each year, with additional vehicles that are unique for a wide variety of people from very young to seniors,” Baldelli-Hunt said.
“This is part of quality of life in the community … It’s giving people in the community a place to go to expose them to something they might not be exposed to on a regular basis,” the mayor later said.
Among the families on hand Saturday morning were the Van Orsouws of North Smithfield. Parents Steve and Ann and their seven-year-old daughter Aidyl were checking out the various vehicles on display on the OLQM fairgrounds.
“It brings the community together,” Ann said. “I love it. It gets people out of the house, away from their electronics, for real-life interaction.”
Greenough said he’s always thinking outside the box, trying to rack his brain for new vehicles – some from movies or television shows – that will serve to “kick it up a notch.”
“It’s surpassed the bar more than I ever fathomed...” Greenough said of the event, which started four years ago. “It puts a smile on my face.”
As for what he’s got in store for 2019 and how he could top this year’s festival?
“I don’t know how to top this,” he said with a laugh. “To be continued.”