Junior League of San Angelo to Hold 3rd Annual Touch-a-Truck Event

On Saturday, April 30, the Junior League of San Angelo is hosting its third annual Touch-a-Truck event at the San Angelo Stadium. It will begin at 9 a.m. and continue until 2 p.m.

Admission to the Touch-a-Truck event is free and open to the public, and is a way to engage and educate the youth of San Angelo about the various vehicles in their community. Attendees are allowed to touch and interact with various types of vehicles owned by businesses and members of the community. These vehicles include fire trucks, police cars, construction equipment, bucket trucks, buses, Shannon’s Air Med 1 helicopter, a 100-year old chuck wagon and much more.

During the first hour of the event (9 a.m.-10 a.m.), a quiet hour will be enacted. This means that it will be “horn free” for those who may be sensitive to loud noises.

Elaine Hembree, chairwoman for the JLSA Touch-a-Truck event, explained, “We have seen other communities around Texas, and even around the nation, have these Touch-a-Truck events. We thought it would be a really good fit for our community. Before this, the San Angelo community did not have an event like this.”

All together, there will be over 35 vehicles and 85 volunteer community members at the Touch-a-Truck event who want to educate and interact with the youth of San Angelo. Hembree added that the interaction will “educate and show kids how to honk the horn, how bucket trucks work and so much more. There are going to be fire demonstrations that will show water cannons in action.” She also said, “It will be really great to educate and get the community involved to see exactly what is out there, how to use it and what it looks like.”

In addition to the vehicles, activity booths and food truck vendors will be available for the community. The activity booths are free as well.

The JLSA was founded in 1946. In its 70 years of operation, JLSA has developed 26 legacy programs. A legacy program is a program that the Junior League started from scratch. The League raises the funds for a program, gets it up and running, and transfers it on to be handled locally.

Hembree said, “After we get the program on its feet and get it going, then we pass it on to another local non-profit who will then take care of it for the rest of time.”

The JLSA consists of only women. The women of JLSA are committed to promoting volunteerism, developing the potential of women and improving the community through the effective action and leadership trained volunteers. Their purpose is exclusively educational and charitable.

Hembree noted, “We thought that the Touch-a-Truck event would be a good way to give back to the community, while also educating the youth of San Angelo.”

Parking for the event will be in two places. For handicapped and special needs, parking on the west side of the stadium is available. The entrance is located off of Johnson St. All other community traffic will enter from the Knickerbocker entrance, park on the east side of the stadium and walk over to the event.