A Touching Story

They didn’t let the kids drive, but they did let them blow the horn.

Touch-a-Truck came to Marco Island for the first time on Saturday, with hundreds of children and their parents getting the chance to be hands-on with a wide variety of commercial vehicles. Close to two dozen trucks, ambulances, police jet skis, dump trucks, fire engines, patrol cars, and school buses were distributed around the site where the Wednesday Farmers’ Market takes place, with their drivers, owners, and crews on hand to welcome the youngsters aboard, explain their rigs, and when necessary, provide a boost to get them up and into the driver’s seat.

Of course, all the children who came to the free community event brought their parents with them, or vice versa, so the adults got to check out the hot wheels as well. Jim Krizman of Marco Island, after receiving permission, climbed into the driver’s seat of Engine 50, a hulking fire truck belonging to the Marco Island Fire-Rescue Dept. He hoisted himself up to the cab with no problem on his own, but Engine 50’s driver, Engineer/EMT Kenny Steinback, did offer a hand to help Archer, a curious three-year-old, up to the seat.

The fire department also brought their tower truck with its soaring ladder, although that stayed horizontal, and one of their high-water rescue vehicles and a brush truck. The MIPD showed up with a pair of jet skis on a trailer and Lt. Joseph Belardo’s brand-new patrol vehicle. The emergency response vehicles, including an ambulance from Collier County EMS, as well as the police and fire vehicles, were a big draw for the little visitors and full of mysterious and enticing controls inside.

One not-so-mysterious but highly appreciated control was the cord dangling in the cab of a number of massive trucks on the site, that blew the powerful horn. At times, it seemed the kids were engaged in playing “dueling airhorns,” filling the air with a wall of sound.

One of the loudest sounds came from overhead. Stretching the definition of “truck,” and not actually available to touch, the Collier Sheriff’s Office helicopter made a number of passes over the park, flying low enough to blow a reporter’s cap off his head.

Apart from the chopper, the tallest thing going on at the park was the concrete pumping truck brought by Kam Concrete Pumping, whose nozzle soared high in the air and whose truck proclaimed they are “pumping for Jesus.”

The splashiest graphics award had to go to John Johnson of Iguana Removal Services, whose Jeep was fully wrapped in an iguana scale design, with a three-foot iguana head depicted on the driver’s side, including a helpful bullseye behind the eye to show the best aiming point for quick disposal. In the back, Johnson kept an arsenal of high-powered pellet rifles, and on the ground next to the vehicle was an actual (deceased) iguana.

A deejay kept the tunes pumping, and Smokin’ Water Buffalo caterer, who is on hand at the Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays, gave out 300 free hot dogs after just a couple of hours. Co-organizer Kristina Lambros of the Lambros Group, part of Keller-Williams Realty, had to run out for more hot dogs to keep the crowd fed. Her fellow organizer, Sabria Richards, the proprietor of A Blinds Co., hung out at the Marco Island Moms tent, soliciting memberships and offering the chance to win a gift basket valued at over $500.

Touch-a-Truck events have been held around the country. The idea for bringing it to Marco came to Kristina and her simultaneously, said Richards.

“We went to a Touch-a-Truck in East Naples, and immediately we had this lightbulb moment.” She thanked all those who donated or brought vehicles to the event, as well as the City of Marco Island for hosting it.