On a sunny August Saturday in Petersburg, the Petersburg Indian Association parking lot was filled with excited families, and lots of big trucks. There were 14 vehicles in total, including an ambulance, fire truck, freight truck, a bucket truck, a school bus, construction vehicles, and a police car.
The vehicles were gathered for an event called Tiny Hands Big Wheels. Mitkof Monsters, a local daycare, hosted the event. Allison Perez was one of the organizers.
“Me and my coworker was talking about how it’ll be cool if the kids can see the rigs and cool vehicles up closely,” said Perez. “Because we can see them going by the street all the time.”
That sparked an idea: what if they could have all the vehicles together all at once?
So, Perez asked around, and she found a lot of support for the idea. The event gave kids the opportunity to see the big trucks up close, and doubled as a fundraiser for the daycare’s playground and future field trips.
At the police car, Patrol Officer Jared Popp let kids use the loudspeaker while others climbed around in the backseat.
“Usually people don’t want to be back there,” said Popp with a laugh.
At the neighboring ambulance, Petersburg’s Fire and Emergency Services Director Aaron Hankins was letting kids explore. The ambulance doors were open, and kids could walk around the inside of the vehicle.
“The gurney is always a popular hit with kiddos. They get to go for like, a little mini roller coaster ride,” said Hankins.
While the event is fun, Hankins said that the kids are also getting an introduction to what professionals do with big vehicles.
“[It’s] definitely good to get in and make sure, you know, if they’re out and working, they’re not scary at all,” said Hankins. “The main thing is they know that these vehicles, they’re all part of the working man’s life, or woman. And, you know, they can do this too.”
While the ambulance and police car were popular, there was another surprising hit at the event: the school bus.
“It has been a very busy place, much busier than I would have thought,” said school bus driver Don Holmes.
Holmes said that many of the attendees were too young to ride the school bus yet, so it was a fun adventure for the kids.
“They’ve had a good time getting to kind of explore all the way to the back. Forbidden territory for the little buggers, the back,” said Holmes. “The back of the bus is for the high school kids, so the little guys have to sit up front. They don’t know that yet, because they don’t ride the bus yet.”
Five-year-old Natalie Sheldon said the bus was her favorite because it could take her home. Meanwhile, five-year-old Roman Cardenas said he liked the bus because he was eating snacks inside.
Cardenas’ uncle, Tegan Schwartz, works with big vehicles as a part of his job at Petersburg’s public works department. He said it was nice to share a day like this with his nephew.
“It’s fun getting to show them kind of a little bit of what I do,” said Schwartz.
