Touch-a-Truck
The library had a fantastic time recently welcoming back South Fayette Township’s annual Touch-a-Truck event after a two-year hiatus. Held on Sunday, July 24 at Fairview Park, Touch-a-Truck is an interactive outdoor family adventure that lets kids climb, explore, and discover their favorite cars, trucks and vehicles! This year featured an ambulance, fire truck, public works vehicles, and city bus… to name just a few.
Our library collaborated with the Allegheny County Library Association (ACLA) to host our favorite vehicle, the bookmobile! A perennial favorite, ACLA maintains multiple bookmobiles that serve communities throughout Allegheny County.
The bookmobiles can be categorized in one of three ways, community services, senior services, and preschool services. Community Services are contracted by local governments, public libraries, and school libraries. The Allegheny Regional Asset District (RAD) generously provides funding for preschool and senior services, focused on preschools, daycares, and head start programs and senior centers, senior high-rises, and independent and assisted living facilities, respectively. Just recently, the bookmobile scheduled monthly visits at local senior facilities including Bridgeville Manor, St. Clair Villa, and Bridgeville Tower.
The bookmobile featured at Touch-a-Truck (pictured above) is used for preschool services and is fully stocked with a variety of board books, easy readers, picture books, and juvenile fiction, perfect for any growing readers. Those who visited could browse, sign up for library cards, and borrow books. Operations Manager Chuck Arrigo was also on site handing out free books kindly provided by United Way.
If that was not enough, Ms. Nicole and Ms. Nicole (yes, there are two) guided families through a transit STEM craft, giving children a chance to design their own neighborhood, using crayons and paper plates, before driving their own vehicle using a magic (magnetic) wand.
To learn more about the bookmobile visit http://www.aclabookmobile.org/. We hope to see you next year at Touch-a-Truck 2023!