‘Ride-A-Rig’ event gives kids chance to explore construction trucks, cruisers

The typical sights and sounds of the Sonoma County Fair weren’t on display Sunday, but that didn’t matter to the children wandering around the Santa Rosa fairgrounds.

They were there for one thing: trucks - the bigger the better.

About 1,500 people attended the fourth annual Ride-A-Rig, sponsored by the Junior League of Napa-Sonoma.

Kids got a chance to explore 31 different types trucks and cars on display at the event. All but one - a truck with a large crane - were parked under the roof of the Lyttle Cow Palace to offer shade on a sunny 86-degree day.

The event was expected to raise $15,000 for local nonprofits, said Gioia Garner, president of the Junior League. Tickets were priced at $6 in advance.

“I’m seeing some parents that are pretty excited,” Garner said. “There needed to be a family event like this. I know there are a lot of them, but some of them are quite pricey. I can’t wait until we offer this as a free community event.”

Trucks included a PG&E bucket lineman truck and a fuel truck from the California National Guard. The city of Santa Rosa had a hydration station truck that was a popular stop on such a hot day.

The CHP gave kids a chance to sit in a patrol car. Kids also were able to play with beach balls inside the 1-800-Got-Junk? truck.

Bethany Seldon of Rohnert Park said she had attended the event the last three years. “It’s one of our favorite events of the year,” Seldon said, as she watched over her sons, Ronan, 4, and Ryker, 1.

The lure for her children?

“It’s the engineering of it all - moving things from place to place. The fact that these vehicles have so many different parts,” she said. “Both of my boys love trucks.”

The event featured for the first two hours no flashing lights nor sirens for children sensitive to such sounds. The last two hours allowed children to honk all the various horns, though some kids wore protective headphones.

Those staffing the event were peppered with questions from kids and even some adults. Some children asked if they could go inside the bed of the two dump trucks that Valdivia Trucking of Windsor had parked at the fairgrounds.

“They want to go up there and see what’s in there. They are just very curious,” said owner Raul Valdivia.

During the weekday, the two trucks are busy with road repairs on highways 101 and 37. His fleet of 20 trucks also performed a lot of work removing debris from the October 2017 fires, as well as bringing back in dirt for homes where the land was improperly excavated.

Valdivia said some adults were interested in sitting inside the cab of his trucks.

“There was a gentleman here and I told him to jump in there,” he said. “He was like: ‘This is awesome.’”

You can reach Staff Writer Bill Swindell at 707-521-5223 or bill.swindell@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @BillSwindell.