Hundreds of families took advantage of the nice, if not breezy, weather to enjoy the efforts of the Kaua‘i Police Department in coordinating the second free Touch A Truck event on Saturday morning at the Vidinha Stadium south parking lot.
“This is fun,” said Shelley Paik of the Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative, which brought two of its line trucks to the display. “It’s even better than the Holiday Lights Parade because there’re no rules that keep people away, or preventing the keiki from sounding the horns. It’s really loud, though. At least, I can bring my dog.”
The symphony of truck horns only served to attract countless others to the stadium parking lot, the south end being used because of parking for the Kaua‘i Police Activities League flag football games that were taking place on the soccer fields.
“This is really good,” said Beth Amaro, also of KIUC who stopped by to see how the truck operators were doing. “We had an eight o’ clock game so we just came over after that.”
The Touch A Truck was the second event KPD coordinated that piggy-backed on the flag football games. The first event was the free child car seat inspection held in the parking lots where attendance and participation ballooned beyond expectations.
Kaua‘i Police Department Chief Todd Raybuck was beyond words, using his smartphone to get photos and videos of the sea of parents and keiki enjoying the experience of seeing the specialized vehicles up close, getting photographs, and even touring the trucks and trying out some of the specialized gear like the KPD body armor or Ocean Safety Bureau Jet Ski gear.
“This is all the hard work of Assistant Chief Mark Ozaki, Sgt. Lance Okasaki, and many other officers,” Raybuck said. “This is a great community event.”
During the free event, everyone had an opportunity to view vehicles from the KPD, including its Mobile Command Center, the Rescue Vehicle, paddy wagon, and talk to the vehicle operators for education on what the vehicles are used for, how it is utilized, and even got to sound air horns, sirens, and try on gear.
Other participating agencies fielding trucks included the Kaua‘i Fire Department, the Lihu‘e Airport Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting unit, the Kaua‘i Bus (Transportation Agency), American Medical Response, the Public Works Department, KIUC and more.
Raybuck, taking a break from the heat in the shade of a quick tent where premiums were being distributed, said there will be more events similar to the one held on Saturday.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
