By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
Touch a Truck, an annual event on 6th Street in Texas City, meant a child could crawl into, explore, examine with a careful eye for fun, push buttons, go up in a lift, make the trash can go up and down and hang out with professionals whose job is to keep our big heavy equipment operating to serve society.
The adults who watched over the variety of vehicles were pleased to be part of a day when they were able to give back to the community and maybe spark an interest in their profession or in serving others.
The United States Coast Guard helicopter held the longest line of children and their guardians waiting for the little tikes to have their moment sitting in the cock pit. The pilots and crew members were hopeful that some of the children might take up aviation in the future.
The next longest line was at the sanitation truck. It was a moment of curiosity for the children as they pushed the button to elevate the trash barrel. It didn’t matter how tall you were, you were invited to push the button and experience the power of lifting an object larger than yourself.
Selena and Sofia, twin sisters from League City, thought going up and down in the police armored vehicle was the best part of the day. Though neither one of them aspires to be in law enforcement. One plans to become a veterinarian and the other a paleontologist.
Three-year old Leo from Galveston could not get enough of being beamed up in the armored vehicle. His mom would bring him out of the vehicle, and no sooner had she set him down on the ground, he was crawling back in for another beam up moment. The crew were good spirited and beamed him away for several trips through the lookout port.
Touching big vehicles was the big draw of the day, but if you were lucky, you found the box of corn and that was where the children really scrambled with their hands, feet, tummies, and heads.
A corn box is kind of like a sand box but a whole lot less messy. It’s filled with yellow kernels of corn. Event staff explained that the experience has been part of the event for three years and is always a hit with the kids. The children were having such a blast, parents had to make promises such as let’s go paint pumpkins to get their kids out of the corn.
Pumpkin decorating was another hit with the children. Once they were situated with their own pumpkin, the children put on their serious, wise artist look as they selected colors and drew on their canvas.
“Our daughter loves coloring the whole house,” a mom and dad shared. “In fact, all of our kids love being artists, we don’t plan to paint the house again until they are all older than six,” they smiled as they spoke and looked lovingly at their children.
Another artist in residence, eight-year-old Devaeha, from Texas City was intent on her creative process.
The McGee family of LaMarque enjoyed the event. “We just love seeing the kids happy,” shared the adults.
Children wandered through the event looking very content. Some of them proudly displayed their symbols of the day with stickers resembling badges of first responders. Families noticed the flags on display atop the cranes of the big trucks.
One father stopped gazed into the sky and asked his children “what flag is that?” his children responded, “The American flag,” he was pleased with their recognition of our nation’s flag.
Three-year-old Ezlynn on a stroll enjoying her sweet, cold treat summed up the day for all of the children as she stopped a moment and shared her playful blue speckled smile with the camera. She was visiting her grandparents in Texas City who didn’t miss the chance to take their only grandchild out to enjoy Texas City’s Touch a Truck event.
