SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – The morning of Saturday, April 8 was brisk and sunny. The sounds of children at Riverside Middle School in Springfield were punctuated by loud chirps of police sirens and the blast of 18-wheeler truck horns. There was no emergency, it was just the 30th annual Springfield Family Festival and Touch-a-Truck event.
With over 660 people attending this year, “the most in recent history,” according to Angela Kelly, Interim Executive Director for Springfield Area Parent Child Center (SAPCC), children waited in line to crawl through police vehicles, fire trucks, ambulances, tractors, and big rigs, thrilled to get their hands on all the buttons and levers, and yes, the horns and sirens.
Families enjoyed the many booths set up inside the gym as well, where family-oriented services and organizations provided educational games, crafts, face painting, book giveaways, and more. The aerial hoop from Uplift Acrobatics was a popular activity, as was the photo booth sponsored by Cota and Cota. SEVCA Head Start offered seed planting instruction, while North Star Health handed out free toothbrushes, and Springfield Parks and Recreation had a sack toss game setup. SAPCC, who have coordinated the event over the decades, hosted booths where children created suncatchers or paper flowers. Even the Easter Bunny made an appearance.
The festival provides many opportunities for family fun, along with educational, health, and safety information, such as a car seat inspection station set up in the parking lot, and a fire safety booth run by the Springfield Fire Department.
Kelly expressed her feeling about the event, “we are very proud of how it has become part of the culture of our community, and families look forward to it year after year.”