Hundreds filtered in and out of Winfield’s Randolph Street Park on the morning of Saturday, May 19, for the town’s annual Wind-Field Day Touch a Truck event. Featuring free kites to fly, local food, and trucks of all kinds – it was an opportunity for families and their children to get firsthand experience with some of the vehicles that help power the community.
Kankakee Valley (KV) REMC is among the organizations that attended, bringing out one of their line trucks for park visitors to explore. The energy cooperative delivers power to more than 18,000 residential and commercial members in rural communities across Northern Indiana. Touch A Truck gave the co-ops’s employees the chance to explain their role to Region youth, and perhaps inspire some to explore future careers in the industry.
“We’ve been coming out to this event for at least the past three years,” said Courtney Venekamp, customer service representative for KV REMC. “It’s important to us to give back to the community, and we love having a chance to see the little ones. They’re always so excited to see the truck, and it’s a lot of fun to tell them that we’re the ones who bring light to their houses. It’s pretty easy for them to understand it that way!”
Apprentice lineman Chris Chaplin guided visitors around the truck, explaining different tools and components – and even letting children step into the lift’s bucket (though it stayed safely on the ground).
“This event is awesome, I’ve been out to it for the last three years and it’s cool to show the kids all the different tools, my rubber gloves, the hard hat, it’s fun to see how excited they get,” Chaplin said. “They really love getting into the bucket and trying on the gloves. It’s great to be out here in Winfield.”
Events like Touch A Truck and the experience of things like stepping into a bucket with a hard hat on, make these types of memories stick with you for a long time – and Chaplin hopes that some of those children might think back to that experience a decade down the line.
“Things like this are really important,” Chaplin said. “Kids get all kinds of chances to see some of the other trucks in-action all the time, like the garbage trucks. Our electrical bucket trucks are something they don’t always see or know about, so getting them engage and interested at a young age might influence them to be a lineman one day.”
Other trucks on hand included fire and police vehicles, a hydrovac used in excavation, a cement mixer, and of course, food and ice cream trucks. The event is a growing tradition for Winfield, and its organizers say attendance grows each year – with more and more organizations taking part.
“We just love getting the whole community involved, and it’s a young community where a lot of people don’t know each other yet so this is a good opportunity for them to gather,” said Monika Valente, event coordinator for the Town of Winfield. “It’s a good community, very family-oriented, and it’s growing by leaps and bounds. We’re happy to see everyone out in the park.”
To learn more about Kankakee Valley REMC, visit kvremc.com.
