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by Stephen Press
Hometown Weekly Staff
Michelle Taylor, a volunteer with Medfield's New 'N Towne Club, surveyed the legions of happy children behind her. "A lot of excitement," she said. "Kids have been very excited to see the trucks. They're excited to get on all of them and touch them and explore them, so it's been an exciting day. It's been a good fundraiser for us."
For two hours on Saturday morning, Medfield's Blake Middle School parking lot hosted the annual Touch-a-Truck. The event, a fundraiser for Medfield's New 'N Towne Club (a non-profit aimed at promoting community activities and social contacts during a time of transition into a new town), allows Medfield's littlest residents the opportunity to get up close and personal with their favorite rescue and construction vehicles. A dump truck, street sweeper, front end loader, garbage truck, fire engine, cement mixer, ambulance, Medfield Fire & Rescue trailer and police cruiser were all on hand for the proceedings.
For the toddlers, many of whom were wearing yellow hard hats provided by New 'N Towne, it was better than an amusement park.
"I think it was just one drawn-out 'trucks!' with, like, ten exclamation points at the end of it - that's how I'd write it out," said Ian Medernach of his son's reaction to seeing all of his favorite vehicles in one place.
Medernach, whose two year-old son, Jacob, had just scrambled up the side of a yellow front end loader, drank in the atmosphere. "There's a lot of little smiling faces around here," he said. "We love these events. They're so much fun, you get up close with all these trucks you see on the road. You get to see them up close."
Jacob wasn't the only one whose enthusiasm was on display. The ubiquitous squeals of delighted children - many reverberating from the inside of truck cabs and trailers - were proof of Touch-a-Truck's popularity.
"I think it starts young with little boys like that - seeing them driving down the road, all the noises and everything," Medernach said as awestruck children interacted with the vehicles around him. "And then to get to come and see them up close like this is a fantastic treat for little kids."
He took a moment to watch Jacob, whose eyes darted around the lot with exhilaration.
"He'll probably be wiped out from excitement and take a nice long nap when he gets home," smiled Medernach.
For more information about the New 'N Towne Club, visit www.newntowne.org.
