Touch a Truck South Frontenac

Jemma Dooreleyers and Wilma Kenny | May 15, 2025

Just over 1100 people made their way to the Sydenham Point football field on the evening of Wednesday May 7th to enjoy the third annual South Frontenac Touch-a-Truck event.
The event, which was organized in conjunction with Emergency Preparedness Week, gave families the opportunity to learn about the public services offered in the community, learn some fire and rescue safety tips, and most importantly, have an opportunity to get up close and personal with the vehicles that make the community run.

Firetrucks, fire boats, police vehicles, farming equipment, construction vehicles, school buses and snow ploughs were part of the line up of vehicles kids could climb into and interact with. While Frontenac Paramedic Services wanted to be there, they were not able to attend due to staffing shortages.

According to Del Blakney, the Director of Emergency Services and the Fire Chief for South Frontenac Fire Department, an event like this is a great opportunity for children to interact and learn about emergency services.
“It’s an opportunity for the community to come and see some of the services that are provided by different Emergency Services and the municipality,” he said. “It’s an excellent opportunity for children to get to meet firefighters and police officers so that’s always a really wonderful experience.”

“We also get to promote fire safety messaging which is always important.”

Blakney said he likes interacting with the public when it isn’t an emergency situation.

“I find it fun because we get out and meet the community when we’re not at an emergency,” he said. “Usually when we’re meeting people it’s at a tragic situation, whether it’s a fire, car accident or medical emergency. Here we get to be out and interact with the public in a positive way.”

Along with the trucks, families were invited to enjoy a BBQ dinner and browse booths set up by the library, EarlyON and other educational groups. The firetruck shaped bouncy castle and slide was a big hit.
Mayor Ron Vendewal believes the event is a good place for community members to learn about the work that the municipality does.

“It’s always a great event for kids and for people to see what the municipality is doing,” said Vandewal. “The community not only needs to see what their tax dollars are paying for but to see everything that the township is responsible for and to look around at all of the service providers and different organizations that all contribute to making the municipality work.”

Children won a free South Frontenac high-visibility vest after completing a sticker sheet that showed they spoke with a firefighter, a police officer and a public works employee.

Enthusiastic children collected stickers from each vehicle for their 'passports', and watchful parents seemed to be having a good time, too. Special thanks to Amanda Pantrey, of Recreation Facilities, and her amazing organizational skills for bringing this event together!
The event was free admission, although the public was encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item to donate to the food bank.