Kids Have Field Day on Heavy Equipment at Public Works Fair

O’Fallon’s Public Works Department turned into the Public Play Department for a few hours Wednesday in the T.R. Hughes parking lot.

Preschoolers, toddlers and others out for a good time climbed on backhoes, operated the mechanized arm on a recycling truck that raises carts, checked their pitch speed with a radar trailer and played red light, green light with a real traffic signal.

“We’ve been coming for four years,” said Miranda Tenney, as her son Garrett, 3, pretended to steer a Bobcat as his older sister waited her turn. “Especially as a mom, we look forward to this every year. It’s a great chance to get outside and have fun.”

There were safety and educational activities for kids, rides on the city’s Krekel Line Train, free food and other giveaways.

Patrick Everett, 4, threw tennis balls at the radar screen, while his dad, Tom Everett, a street division employee, worked the booth.

“He loves climbing on all the trucks and seeing the equipment his daddy works on,” said Jessica Everett, Patrick’s mom.

“They just love it,” said Jim Wenzara, director of Environmental Services for O’Fallon, as he watched kids climb up into the recycling.

“Even the parents love it,” said Wenzara, who clearly was enjoying himself, too. “I talk to a lot of them standing in line. They don’t mind. Their kids want to run that mechanized arm and honk that horn.”

The event commemorates National Public Works Week, May 16-22.